Summary
PULLED BETWEEN TWO CITIES …
Noting my ongoing interest in Japan, AMRO's Head Office asked if I would like to be transferred to Tokyo, as regional head for Asia.
I was caught off guard and found myself seriously considering the offer. Not that I was keen to leave the States — we were happy with our private life, and felt quite settled. But there was the continuing struggle with the in-your-face American mentality, which made me long at times for the more subtle, considerate attitudes of the Japanese. In the end I decided against amove, as I doubted the wisdom of ‘goingback’ — of trying to reconnect with a business and social environment that had moved on in the ten years since we left. I was afraid I might start comparing and becoming a crashing bore talking about how things ‘used to be’. Besides, from the banking perspective Japan had lost much of its appeal. The US was far more interesting now. And Tokyo couldn't hold a candle to the cosmopolitan allure of the Big Apple!
All of which did nothing to diminish my need to immerse myself briefly every year or so in that same predictable, unchanging Japanese environment that I had tried so hard to get away from. Now that we no longer lived there, my visits to Japan served as welcome breaks from the stresses of New York life. I could easily slip back into my remembered Japanese persona, like a dog into its cot, and feel snug and peaceful for a while — until the itch to re-engage with The world’ once again took hold of me.
This year's visit was sadly marred by the declining health of my mother-in-law. She had spent six weeks with us in New York in the spring, and nothing at the time suggested what was in store for her. Toyoko spent a few weeks with her in the summer to discuss mother's wish to move to a private retirement home. Alarmed by reports of a sharp deterioration in her condition she went back again in December to find mother hospitalised, diagnosed with cancer of the liver, a fact that was kept from the patient, in accordance with Japanese medical practice at the time. She was doing poorly and in a state of chronic depression bordering on paranoia.
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- The Call of JapanA Continuing Story - 1950 to the Present Day, pp. 243 - 244Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2020