Japanese Imperialism in Contemporary English Fiction by Ching-chih Wang

Author:Ching-chih Wang
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789811504624
Publisher: Springer Singapore

Matsuda:

You are saying that without this political dimension your establishment…

“It’ll never be more than a confection,” says Jackson, if there is no insidious political confrontation being craftily plotted in his nightclub. What Jackson anticipates, he tells Matsuda, are “a few Chinese Reds, some of their Nationalist enemies and maybe a few of your [Japanese] countrymen, [and] maybe some of mine.” He can “see” it all in his brain, but he cannot “see a way forward.” As he conceitedly asks Matsuda, and also himself: “How do you get such people in here all at the same time? I mean, a fellow can’t just take a gun and force them to come in.” Serendipitously, this unexpected Mr. Matsuda is precisely the one who can bring in the kind of political tension Jackson desires for his entertainment establishment. With Matsuda’s influence in the Japanese army, Jackson presents a big picture on his “broader canvas”: people of different political persuasion can relax and mingle freely in his bar of dreams in order to forget about their responsibilities in the real world. For the weary former American diplomat, the mysterious Japanese man and the elusive Russian aristocrat are the “people in the know” in his pursuit of decadent beauty. Sofia’s wistful yearning for a once beautiful world and her dreariness are what Jackson needs to garnish his bar of dreams. The two broken souls succeed in creating their decadent but somehow controllable world. With the music appealing to his own esoteric tastes, a sense of political tension, and most important of all, his centerpiece Countess Sofia, Jackson feels he has accomplished his dream. However, as Jackson’s relationship with Sofia develops, and his friendship with Matsuda thrives, he begins to realize the impracticality implied in his quest for a brief moment of tranquility before Japan starts to launch a large-scale invasion of Shanghai. The dance and the decadence that permeates his establishment, in other words, grow from a distant echo into a reality with the subtle increase in the numbers of Japanese soldiers and the political tensions Matsuda has helped agitate; Matsuda’s real intention of playing “the one in the know,” or specifically, a nightlife connoisseur, is revealed when he confides to Jackson his plan for a “broader canvas.”

The picture Matsuda paints on the canvas is his “cherished dream” of making Japan a nation “as great as” the Western powers. The artifice he uses to make it grand is to take advantage of Jackson’s tainted reputation for tarnishing all the rules of the real world. Jackson has helped sign the treaty to officially end the Great War at Versailles and is now employed as a consultant to an American company based in Shanghai. Soon after the tragedy happens to his family, he becomes a nuisance to the company. He dozes through meetings or leaves early to avoid what he believes is the hypocrisy of those that hold him in high regard, because he is fully aware that the company wants to use his name purely to “make an extra dollar.

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