Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet Chapter 25 Summary

Parents (1942)

  • The evacuation of Bainbridge Island passes and Keiko's family isn't taken away. Phew.
  • Henry and Keiko resume some kind of normalcy and even make plans to have lunch on Saturday.
  • Henry gets all worried when he starts to wonder if this is a date, and he wonders what it's going to be like to officially meet Keiko's parents.
  • They meet up at the Panama Hotel on Saturday and Keiko leads him to the Japanese market, where they find her parents.
  • Her parents are super nice to Henry and thank him for walking their daughter home from school every day. Then they all drink tea and have lunch together.
  • Keiko's parents are jazz fans—score—and they invite Henry to a free Oscar Holden concert with them tonight. They ask his family to come, too.
  • Henry doesn't know what to say, since his parents don't know about Keiko and don't particularly approve of jazz music.
  • A much bigger problem promptly presents itself, though, as army trucks start coming into Japantown. Henry and Keiko's family watch on as soldiers hand out flyers to everyone around that say: "Instructions to All Persons of Japanese Ancestry" on them.
  • All of the Japanese people in Seattle are being evacuated, and Keiko's mother starts to cry as Henry watches helplessly.