South of the Border, West of the Sun Page 0,23
was vice president of the construction firm and was going to take over the family business. He wasn’t a bad sort but was overshadowed by his father. Of the three children, the younger sister, who was in college, was the most outgoing; she was used to getting her way. Come to think of it, she might have made a better president than her brother.
About half a year after I was married, Yukiko’s father asked me to come to see him. He’d heard from my wife that I wasn’t too thrilled working at a textbook company, and he wanted to know if I was planning to quit my job.
“I have no problem with quitting,” I said. “The problem is what I do after that.”
“How about coming to work for me?” he asked. “I’ll run you ragged, but the pay can’t be beat.”
“Well, I know I’m not cut out for editing textbooks, but I don’t think working in a construction firm’s my thing, either,” I said truthfully. “I appreciate the offer, but if I’m not suited for the work, the whole thing will end up being more bother than it’s worth.”
“You’re probably right. Shouldn’t force people to do what they don’t want to do,” he replied. It sounded as if he’d anticipated this answer. We were having a few drinks. His son hardly touched liquor, so sometimes the two of us would drink together. “By the way, my company has a building in Aoyama. It’s under construction, should be finished by next month. The location’s good, and it’ll be quite a place. It’s a little off the beaten path now, but the area’s going to grow. I was thinking maybe you could open some kind of store there. It’s company property, so I’ll have to take the going rate for the down payment and rent, but if you’d like to have a go at it, I can lend you as much as you want.”
I thought about it for a while. The possibilities were intriguing.
That’s how I came to open an upscale jazz bar in the basement of a brand-new building in Aoyama. I had worked at a bar in college, so I was familiar with the ins and outs of running a drinking establishment—the kind of drinks and food you should serve, the music and atmosphere, the sort of clientele to shoot for, etc. My father-in-law’s company handled the interior decorating. He brought over a first-rate interior design firm and had them go to it. Their price was surprisingly reasonable, and when the bar was finished, it was a sight to behold.
The bar was more successful than my wildest dreams, and two years later I opened a second one, also in Aoyama. This was a bigger place, featuring a live jazz trio. It took a lot of time and effort, not to mention a great deal of money, but I ended up with a popular, unique sort of club. I’d done a halfway decent job with the opportunity presented to me, and I finally felt able to relax for a moment. Not coincidentally, this was when my first child, a girl, was born. At first I used to help out behind the counter, mixing cocktails, but after opening the second place, I was too busy with the business end. I had to make sure everything went smoothly-negotiating prices, hiring, keeping records. What I liked best was seeing ideas that had sprung up in my head materialize into something real. I even threw in my two cents’ worth regarding the menu. Surprisingly, I wasn’t half bad at this kind of work. I loved the process of starting from scratch, creating something, seeing it through till it was absolutely perfect. It was my bar, my own little world. Think you could find this kind of happiness proofreading school textbooks? No way.
During the day I’d take care of all sorts of chores, then at night I’d make the rounds of my two bars, checking out the cocktails to see that they tasted all right, observing the customers’ reactions, making sure my employees were up to snuff. And I listened to the music. Each month, I paid back some of what I owed my father-in-law; still, I was making a pretty decent profit. Yukiko and I bought a four-bedroom condo in Aoyama and a BMW 320. And had a second child. Another girl. Before I knew what hit me, I was the father of two little girls.
When I turned thirty-six, I bought a small cottage in