Islands of Protest

by Davinder L. Bhowmik

  That’s all for today’s lesson. Until we meet again. Please take care. Now, bow!

  (The trainer exits. The man and woman, who remain onstage, take a wait-and-see attitude for a while. As soon as they are sure that the coast is clear, they both say simultaneously:)

  MAN AND WOMAN: Long live the emperor banjaii.

  (They explode with laughter. After a short while, the man stops laughing as though he just realized something, and the woman stops a moment later. Suddenly, the man starts to attack the woman with all his strength. She runs away from him.)

  MAN: You liar! You promised you wouldn’t say anything even if you were struck by lightning, didn’t you?

  WOMAN (running away): Who do you think you are? You just talk big, but when push comes to shove, you don’t even let out a peep.

  MAN: What? You’ve really got a big mouth! You filthy bitch! Do you want to be my enemy after making promises to me? I’ll beat you to death!

  WOMAN: Try if you think you can. Your problem is that you make a mess of things because you don’t know how to listen.

  MAN: Why you …

  (The man assumes a karate stance and tries to grapple with her. But he is not as strong as he pretends to be. The woman continues to flee from him and skillfully parries his blows, turning them against him. When he loses his balance, she soon pins him to the ground.)

  MAN: That really hurts. Get off of me, you tub of lard.

  WOMAN: It’s all over now. What are you going to do now? If you have anything to say, say it.

  MAN: … Uhh! Sir, please let me go to the can.

  WOMAN: The can? Oh, you mean the toilet. Are you still going to behave like an asshole even though you’re locked up in jail?

  MAN (struggling): I may be in jail, but I’m still a human being. What’s the difference between my shit and yours? Take a good look.

  WOMAN: … You animal.

  (She gets off him and goes into the hut.)

  MAN: Oh, that really hurt.… I felt like I was being flayed alive. And to have that big baby sitting on top of me. If I weren’t so hungry, I would’ve knocked her out with a single blow. When you’re hungry, you lose your strength. That little pipsqueak claims, “You can eat as much food as you like,” but all we get is sweet potatoes. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, nothing but sweet potatoes.

  Why, I’m so weak that I can’t even put up a good fight.

  (The man returns to the hut. He takes out his jamisen and begins to strum on it.

  Toun, toun, taen, taen …

  The woman starts to move in time to the music, but then she notices the sound of approaching footsteps and signals to the man “Someone’s coming.”

  The man puts down his jamisen in a hurry and plays the innocent. He notices that he is wearing the dialect placard backwards, and he hurriedly flips it over to the right side.

  The trainer walks onto the stage. He stands behind a podium, bows, and then takes papers from his pocket and starts to read from them.

  It is Governor Yara’s15 speech at the opening ceremony of the Ocean Exposition.16 As the scene begins, a recording of Governor Yara’s voice is played. The trainer lip syncs in time with the recording. It looks as though the trainer is giving the speech.

  The speech continues for a time, and then it comes to an abrupt stop. Almost without transition, we hear the voice of the crown prince. After a long pause, we hear the governor’s voice again. The trainer, who has to play both roles, is kept very busy.

  In the back of the stage, the man picks up his jamisen and starts to play it again, making a loud strumming sound. The woman frantically gestures for him to stop playing, and he nods in agreement; but he keeps pretending to play without making a sound.

  A long time ago, when Japan was enthusiastically fighting a war, a group of soldiers secretly took out their musical instruments late one night and got carried away pretending to play without making a sound, one playing a guitar, another a harmonica, and the third a trumpet.

  At the time, their concert reverberated silently through the world, but no recording of it survives.

  Oh, if only this silent concert had been recorded, it would make the countless records that flood the world hide themselves and keep silent from shame.

  In the same way, the performance of our man on exhibit is the one and only chance to transmit to the world of the living the bitterness of the countless dead who fought in defense of the nation, and he is fully aware of the gravity of his mission. Consequently, even though his concert is silent, it should make the entire hall reverberate, plunging the listeners into sadness, filling them with longing, and then bursting forth into wild moments of madness, exceeding in power the gamut of the Ryukyu musical scale.

  Naturally, at this point we can no longer make out the words of the trainer, who is trying to fire up people’s enthusiasm for the Ocean Exposition. “The sea, and its future filled with hope” vanishes into the darkness of the night like a bubble.

  On the other hand, the woman is no longer able to hold herself back. At first, she claps her hands with a triumphant look on her face, but then, unable to restrain her feelings, she starts to dance. As the celebration reaches its climax, one can hear a strange voice coming from far away; it is like a soft murmur in the ear, a seductive whisper that is borne along by the wind.

  The man throws his jamisen aside and begins to dance like a madman. In the past, young men and women in the farming villages used to dance and sing like this through the night. After reaching a pitch of excitement, the music suddenly grows quiet.

  From far away, we can hear the old-fashioned tolling of a school bell. The trainer walks onstage. It is time for lunch.)

  TRAINER (in an ingratiating tone of voice): Come and get it, all of you. It’s time for lunch, just what you’ve been waiting for. Eat a lot so you can grow up to be big and strong.

  (He hands out the plates. They are piled high with Satsuma sweet potatoes.)

  TRAINER: Satsuma sweet potatoes, fresh from the farm. This is your favorite dish, rich in protein and starch, full of calcium and cadmium.17 They have great nutritional value. A super deluxe meal.

  (The man looks as though he is thinking, “The same old thing again. I am sick to death of them,” and he doesn’t touch his plate. The woman doesn’t seem to mind in the least, and she attacks the meal with gusto.)

  TRAINER: There you go again, my little piglets. Don’t just gobble down your meal! You need to chew slowly. Now, now, my little piglets, there’s no need to make such a mess with your food. (Looking at the man) How strange! Why doesn’t this little piglet touch his plate? I wonder what’s gotten into him. You must not have likes and dislikes when it comes to food. You don’t dislike it, do you?

  MAN:

  TRAINER: How is that possible? You love your sweet potatoes. Why, this morning didn’t you wolf them all down? Not just this morning. Yesterday and the day before yesterday, even the day before that, the plate was piled with them, but you still managed to polish them off. So how come you suddenly lost your appetite? It doesn’t make any sense. Isn’t that so?

  MAN:

  TRAINER (really angry but pretending to be calm): Really, you are simply impossible, little piglet.… Afterwards, you might be scolded by papa. (To the woman) … But you have a great appetite. No, don’t worry; I’m not criticizing you. It’s fine, just fine, so just go ahead and eat. (He picks up a sweet potato between his fingers as though he were holding something dirty.) Have you ever heard this story? It’s about a fellow from the Ryukyus who went to Japan to work but then came back to visit his hometown a long time later. When he first saw a sweet potato, which he hadn’t tasted for years, he looked at it like this and said, “So. This is what is called a sweet potato.… That’s all there is to it. How in the world do people eat such a thing?” [He laughs raucously.] Well, let’s leave this aside. You people had better get used to the customs of the place you live. It looks like you may not be allowed to go on eating this food forever.

  Besides, I
know this might sound patronizing, but sweet potatoes are hard to come by these days. Sometimes they’re just nowhere to be found. The purchasing team from our great Japan Joint Stock Company manages a vast empire that stretches from Hokkaido in the north to the Philippines, Thailand, Burma, and Micronesia in the South. Our men run themselves ragged all day long to gather supplies until their legs become as stiff as wood, but sometimes they can’t find anything. Or they might stumble upon some sweet potatoes after many troubles, but they have no choice but to reject them: “These potatoes are only good for pig feed.” Oh, you didn’t realize that sweet potatoes were fed to pigs? But it’s the truth. It’s really awful, you know.

  On the other hand, we have a surplus of rice these days. We simply produce too much of the stuff. It’s ironic, you know. One of these days, I will have to teach you guys the proper way to eat rice. But please, you don’t need to worry about it. In this country, everyone has been raised on a diet of rice, from the tiny toddler to the senior citizen. You’ll get used to it, too, in no time at all. The main thing is to abide by the Japanese sense of order. Before you even notice it, you’ll start behaving like a Japanese, and even when you sneeze, you’ll do it the Japanese way. (Rather formally, approaching the woman and rubbing his hands.) Well, it appears that you have finished your meal. Will you allow me to ask you for a favor? Huhh … No, it’s nothing special. I just wanted to know if you’d like to use your previous work experience and take on some extra work on the side. To be perfectly frank, uhmm … I want to ask you to serve as a bulwark to protect Japan. You know what I mean, don’t you? It has to do with the Negroes in the American Pavilion over there. Once they have finished eating, they keep insisting that we send a Japanese gal over to them and won’t take no for an answer. Honestly, we just don’t know what to do. In any case, for the sake of peace and security in Asia, I would like to ask you to spend the night with them, and please don’t just turn down my request outright. Give it some thought, won’t you? Aside from you, there’s no one else who can save the Japanese fair sex from this danger. If we don’t minister to Uncle Sam’s appetites—both his hunger and his sex drive—then the blood of the Japanese race will be polluted, this Japanese blood that has continued in an unbroken line since the start of the universe. Do you understand? As a Japanese, you must gladly serve as a bulwark for Japan. It’s for the sake of the country. All for the sake of the country and, therefore, for his majesty the emperor.18

  [The man sneezes very loudly.]

  MAN: Faakusu!

  WOMAN (quick as a flash): Eat shit!

  (The trainer realizes that something is about to happen. He’s flustered. But in the end, he falls into a rage and bawls them out.)

  TRAINER: You idiots! In spite of all that I taught you, you still don’t get it.

  (He punches the man and knocks him down. Then he grabs hold of the dialect placard and drags him around the stage.)

  TRAINER: Why do you think you are wearing this damned thing? This dialect placard! You know very well that I warned you not to use Okinawa dialect. I told you that even when you sneeze, you have to do it in the Japanese way.19

  What do you mean by saying “faakusu”? Why can’t you simply say “atchoo”?20

  Aren’t your reflexes any good? Have you lost your nerve? You must not even think of saying things like “eat shit.” How filthy!

  (The man points toward the woman and is about to say something, but the trainer pays no attention to him and continues.)

  And you still think you are Japanese, a citizen of Japan? You should be ashamed of yourself.

  (After throwing this tantrum, he recovers his calm.)

  [Out of breath and panting] That’s enough for now. Sit down again. Go back and finish your meal.

  (The man finally goes back to his seat, but he does not eat.)

  TRAINER: Why don’t you eat your meal? Hurry up and eat.

  MAN:

  TRAINER (glaring at him): What’s the matter with you? Don’t mind me. Go right ahead and eat.

  (The trainer picks up the sweet potato and presses it against the tip of the man’s nose.)

  Go ahead and just take a bite, won’t you? Once you bite into it, you will feel your mouth filled with starchy saliva and taste something indescribably sweet. Just take a bite.

  MAN:

  TRAINER: What’s wrong with you? You’re completely useless. (In a coaxing voice, again) Oh, I get it. You have to say your prayers before you eat. “Gods and Buddhas, I thank you for giving me this food to go on living. Thank you, soldiers. Thanks, Mom and Dad.” Right?

  MAN:

  TRAINER: After you finish praying, then you have to eat. (To the woman, laughing) I’m not doing this out of spite, but sometimes I just get so angry I just go off at the mouth. Please don’t misunderstand me. It’s for that reason that I’m forever tripping myself up. That’s what’s kept me from getting ahead all my life.

  (Looking around at the faces of the man and woman) I am going to let you in on a secret. To tell the truth, I was once promised a big promotion. The senior managing director had signed off on it. I was so happy! [He laughs.] Let’s have a drink.

  (The music and the stage lighting change. The set has the atmosphere of a cheap bar, and the woman pours out a drink for the man, which can be green tea.)

  The boss was talking straight to me: “No one is better qualified for this job than you. So I’m counting on you.” As I listened, tears rolled down my cheeks. After ten years of trials and tribulations, I was finally going to get my reward. I couldn’t hold back, and the tears just welled up in my eyes. You understand the way I felt then, don’t you?

  My long service in the lower ranks. The heartache. My heart was so filled with bitterness that there are no words to describe it.

  However, it was about to end. From now on, a new life would start. A fulfilling and worthwhile life where I would find my place in the sun. [He laughs.] … My breast was filled with high hopes. I felt like a new employee fresh out of school. As though I were going up to heaven. [Laughing]

  (He looks drunk. His eyes have a glazed look. He keeps downing drinks.)

  And then everything just turned upside down. Like being pushed from heaven to the depths of hell. It all happened in a single night. “I thought he was the right man for the job, but then people started to talk.… Let’s pretend I never even mentioned it.” I know exactly what happened; it was thoroughly predictable. Someone must have told him, “Boss, I hear this guy is from the Ryukyus, but he had just forgotten to mention it before.” “The Ryukyus, you say, is that so?” “I always thought there was something different about him.” “Yes, he looked like someone from the South.”

  But what is wrong if I have darker skin than the others? Those bastards! I don’t come from the Ryukyus. I swear that I’m not a Ryukyuan.… I just look a little bit like them.

  WOMAN (in a consoling tone): Listen, mister, everybody has problems.

  MAN: When I was a little kid, people used to say I looked like a cat, you know, the snooty kind that turns up its nose at food.

  WOMAN: Cheer up, mister. Here, let me pour you another drink.

  TRAINER: Thank you. You guys are really nice. You treat me really well. I won’t forget this day. Someday, I’ll repay your kindness. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

  (Noticing the dialect placard) Hey you. Why are you still dragging that thing around your neck? [He laughs.] … You really are an honest guy. You thought that I was angry with you, didn’t you?

  Why it was all a joke; it was all for fun. You don’t need to keep wearing that thing. Here, let me take it off of you.

  (The trainer removes the dialect placard from the man’s neck.)

  Okay, that’s fine. Now let’s be friends and have a drink together. Let’s eat, drink, and be merry. Here, take a bite out of this. (The trainer hands him a sweet potato. Without thinking, the man takes the sweet potato, but he doesn’t bite into it.) Eat it! It’s my treat. Go ahead and gobble it up.

 
MAN: …

  TRAINER: Eat it, won’t you? I’m asking you, so eat it. (Trembling with hatred) What’s wrong with you? Why don’t you eat it? (Exploding) You bloody asshole!

  (He grabs him by his collar and throws him to the ground. The lighting changes. The setting is a detective’s questioning room.)

  How long are you going to refuse the food we give you, you asshole? Even if you keep your fast, do you think I give a damn? Do you think I care if you starve yourself to death? Don’t kid yourself. Who cares if someone steps on a little worm like you, just for the fun of it? Of course, I might have to file a few forms to make everything look regular, but after that, case closed. You bastard. What does a little runt like you take yourself to be? Tell me. What in the hell are you anyway? Answer me! You don’t want to talk, you bastard. Who the hell are you?

  MAN: … A human being …

  TRAINER: What?

  MAN: A human being. Everyone has certain subjects that they prefer not to talk about. Everyone has things they would rather not be asked about.

  TRAINER: Yeah, so what?

  MAN: I have to resign myself, endure my shame, and just keep silent.

  TRAINER: What are you saying? You bastard. Don’t try to fool me. I’m not going to recognize your right to stay silent just to humor your passing moods. You can’t pull the wool over my eyes!

  MAN: …

  TRAINER: Don’t think you can make a fool of me. What do you take me for? I am not one of your lily-livered, elite graduates of Tokyo University. Unlike them, I rose through the ranks, you know, the school of hard knocks. I followed a different career path from those guys. So you had better listen to what I say. When a criminal falls into my hands, even the most hardened political types, he cracks and spills the beans. They all spit it out in the end, every last one of them. You get it? If you understand me, you had better start answering my questions. Who the hell are you? Where do you live? What’s your name, your age, your occupation, and your telephone number?