Tagomi's Assistants

Character Analysis

As a guy with an office, Tagomi has lots of assistants, many of whom aren't very interesting. There's Kotomichi, a young Japanese assistant; Ito, a young Japanese assistant who tries to speak Swedish to Baynes (5.148); and Tagomi's secretary Miss Ephreikian (2.11).

Tagomi's most interesting assistant is Mr. Ramsey, who is like Childan in some ways: he's an American who interacts with and tries to please powerful Japanese officials. Ramsey puts on a bit of a show about his Americanness, wearing an outfit of a "natty U.S. Midwest Plains string tie, checkered shirt and tight beltless blue jeans" (2.19). Can you say "trying too hard"? Ramsey and Tagomi mostly get along, though there are moments where Tagomi notices that Ramsey seems annoyed (2.27, 2.31).