It was typical of the attitude of even the educated Japanese man toward the matter of appearing in public with his wife at his side.
Up in Sapporo, on the island of Hokkaido, we were entertained by a beautiful Japanese woman. We had been away from America for several months and were tired of eating Japanese food, so when we were invited to this Japanese home for a dinner we groaned.
But much to our delight, when we sat down we had as fine an American dinner as any of us had ever eaten.
I turned to our hostess, a most beautiful Japanese woman; the wife of the Dean of the College at Sapporo; and said: "Do you have servants who know how to cook American food?"
"No, I cooked it all myself!" she said much to my surprise with a bow and a smile.
And there she sat, cool and poised after having cooked food enough for fifteen people that morning; and arranging for it to be served in the finest style; with place cards, salted almonds, Turkey, pudding, vegetables and everything that makes an American dinner good; including a fine salad. There she sat; as cool, calm and collected as if servants had done all of the work that morning instead of she herself.
And never in all of my life have I seen a more gracious hostess. She watched the wants of every guest. She noted which guests liked a special food, and saw to it that they had plenty of that particular food; and, in addition to this she kept a fascinating line of conversation going constantly during the meal.
"Do you live in American fashion or Japanese fashion?" I asked her, knowing that she had been educated in America.
"Both!" was her reply. "We have Japanese rooms for our Japanese guests and American rooms for our European and American guests."
"But how do you live yourselves; how are you training your children?" I asked her.