Eat a Bowl of Tea

There were many scenes that related to Takaki's reoccurring messages in his book "Strangers from a Different Shore". One scene that falls under Takaki's observations is the banquet scene. When Ben and Mei Oi enter the room, the camera does a wide shot of the rest of the room, showing almost all males and about 3 or 4 females. This supports Takaki's statements about the Chinese in America being predominantly males and only a small handful being females. One of the men (Ben's uncle) even stated during his speech that there were so few Chinese women due to the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned them from traveling from China to live in the United States. It was a rare sight to see a Chinese women in the states.

Another idea from the movie that relates to Takaki's literature is the continuation of arranged marriages. Ben traveled all the way to China to find his wife, whom he was paired with by his father and the matchmaker that made sure the two lovers horoscopes worked together. Once it was confirmed that Ben and Mei Oi were a match, they were married and went back to America. In Takaki's book he talks often about father's selling off their daughters to men that lived in the states and upon arrival the daughter would discover that their husband didn't always look the way or age their photo showed them to be. 

There was one scene in which an older man stated that "they weren't meant to go back (to China)". As Takaki explained, many Chinese men traveled to the U.S. to become rich and then return to China to be with their families, but that didn't happen often. Instead, many Chinese men stayed in the United States, away from their wives and children, because they were unable to become rich and thus did not want to return. Some hoped to bring their families to America, but were unable to due to the Chinese Exclusion Act, and most workers gave up on returning or bringing anyone over.