No-No Boy: Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

That evening Ichiro and Kenji gamble in Chinatown for a while, before moving to a nearby bar. Ichiro notes that this neighborhood is at once “part of America” but can “never be wholly America.”

Kenji and Ichiro go to Club Oriental, a nightclub and bar. There they drink and talk. Kenji encourages Ichiro not to blame himself for where he is in his life. Still, Kenji tells Ichiro he would not trade half an inch for Ichiro’s long life. Instead, he’d just sell his car and sit in the Club Oriental drinking happily.

Kenji and Ichiro sit in silence for a while. Kenji, although Japanese, is “more American than most Americans,” while Ichiro is “neither Japanese nor American.”

A Japanese man named Bull comes into the club with a white woman. He invites Kenji to come sit with him, but rescinds the invitation when he sees Ichiro, who he recognizes as a no-no boy. Kenji refuses to engage with Bull, who insults Ichiro, but Ichiro feels shame and bitterness well up within him. Ichiro begins to drink heavily, and Kenji implores him to slow down. Ichiro admits it doesn’t even help.

Ichiro gets up to go. He thanks Kenji for being kind to him, and offers a kindness in return: he will leave, and Kenji can return to his life. Kenji doesn’t accept this offer, but their argument is interrupted by the appearance of Taro, who wants to talk to his brother outside.

Taro convinces Ichiro to come talk outside. Kenji wants to come, but Ichiro tells him to hold back. Outside, two of Taro’s friends confront Ichiro, and begin to attack him. They call him a “Jap,” and accuse him of being homesick for Japan. They kick him to the ground and pull his pants off. One boy leans over him with a knife, but is interrupted by Kenji, who hits them with his cane until they leave.

Ichiro gets up, and he and Kenji return to Kenji’s car. As they drive, Ichiro considers Bull’s treatment of him, which he understands. He understands that the white woman with him “was a compensation for his lack of acceptance.” Ichiro feels like he can forgive Bull, but not Taro. Kenji drives swiftly out of the city. He wants Ichiro to meet one of his friends.

Ichiro falls asleep, and when Kenji arrives at the farmhouse he leaves him in the car, going inside to greet Emi. They talk about her family. Her father is in Japan and unhappy. Her husband Ralph, a soldier who committed to another term of service in Germany, has not written to her. She still loves him but feels confused and lonely.

Kenji advises Emi to divorce Ralph, but she says it’s none of his business. He apologizes, and she gets up to make coffee as a peace offering. Ichiro has woken up and now comes into the house. He notices a piano and sits down to play. Emi comes out to check on the men, and is shocked by Ichiro’s resemblance to Ralph. Kenji claims he hadn’t noticed. Emi recovers from her surprise and sits with Ichiro on the piano bench. The two play chopsticks together.

Ichiro and Emi sit down on the sofa and talk to Kenji. Ichiro tells Emi he was in prison, but she does not hold it against him.

Kenji suggests staying the night. He claims the couch, but tells Ichiro he will sleep in the bedroom with Emi. Ichiro is confused and appalled, but Kenji insists that Emi likes him, and “needs” him, or someone like him. Kenji argues that he himself “only half a man,” and Ichiro infers that Kenji is sending him in as a kind of substitute. Kenji shrugs, and tells Ichiro he can sleep wherever he wants.

Ichiro joins Emi in bed. At first he lays stiffly, but then she takes his hand and they talk. She tells him that she lives alone, her mother died in 1939, and her father asked to be repatriated. Her father, like Mrs. Yamada, believed Japan won the war. Now, living there, her father no longer believes this to be true.

Emi and Ichiro continue talk about their parents’ sicknesses. Ichiro feels that he has ruined his life. He believes he is not crazy now, but was, briefly. Emi suggests it is because, for some reason, one cannot be both American and Japanese, although it is fine to be American and Italian or American and German. Thinking about this, Ichiro begins to cry, and Emi holds him.

Ichiro wakes up in the morning to find Emi gone. He searches for her outside, where she is weeding in a field. Ichiro sees a man working nearby. Emi tells him it’s Mr. Maeno, a farmer who leases her land. Ichiro used to think their work was crazy, year-round, sunup until sundown, but now he envies farmers because they have a purpose. He tells Emi he envies her, too, and Kenji. Emi is irritated. She thinks he is needlessly bitter.

Emi explains that just because Ichiro feels hopeless, doesn’t mean there is no hope. Ichiro dismisses her, and she responds angrily. She points out he’s able-bodied and intelligent. He has the ability to move on and have a good life. Although America made a mistake “when they doubted” him, by releasing him from prison they admitted to their mistake. Ichiro, she suggests, should forgive America and be grateful, and try to prove that he is an American.

Ichiro isn’t fully convinced by Emi’s argument. She tries one last time. She asks him to imagine how full of patriotism he felt as a child, singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at school assemblies. She asks him to recapture that feeling, and then understand that both he and his country made mistakes.

Emi tells Ichiro a story about Ralph’s brother, Mike. He was born in California, where he went to college. He fought in World War I, returned, and started a produce business. When Japanese people began to be evacuated at the start of WWII, Mike refused to go, arguing that if his country would not treat him as a citizen he would not act like one. As a result, he was deported to Japan. Now, Ralph is too ashamed of his brother’s actions to come home. Emi wishes that Ralph would see he doesn’t have to punish himself.

Emi and Ichiro reenter the house. Kenji has woken up and started preparing breakfast. Emi takes over. As she cooks, they talk. Kenji is going to Portland tomorrow to the VA hospital, and invites Ichiro along. After breakfast, the two men prepare to leave. Kenji kisses Emi on the cheek, but she responds by kissing him on the mouth. She tells him “I’ll wait for you,” and stands in the driveway waving and crying as they drive away.