Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-7

Reading Check

1. What Seattle landmark was the gateway between Seattle’s Chinatown and Nihonmachi?

2. What does Marty, the son of Henry and Ethel, study at Seattle University?

3. In Chapter 6, Henry explains to Keiko that he was born in Seattle but had plans to return to China until the war intervened. What was Henry going to do in China?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Henry’s father make him wear a button that says “I am Chinese”?

2. Why is it significant that, when Henry delivers the Japanese line he has been rehearsing, Keiko admits that she does not speak Japanese?

Paired Resource

“The Mysteries of the Panama Hotel” from the National Parks Conservation Association

• As described in this article, the Panama Hotel was designed by Seattle’s first Japanese American architect, Sabro Ozasa, and built in 1910.
• The Panama Hotel was a gathering spot for many Japanese Americans and Japanese immigrants until they were forced into internment camps in 1941.
• What do you think should be done with the artifacts in the basement of the Panama Hotel? What could the public learn from these artifacts?

Chapters 8-12

Reading Check

1. At Bud’s Jazz Records, Henry is searching for a record by which artist in Chapter 8?

2. How often did Henry promise that he would visit Ethel’s grave?

3. What are the two reasons Henry believes that he and Keiko will not be allowed to enter the Black Elks Club to hear Sheldon play?

4. Henry and Keiko make a deal with an older Black man to get into the Black Elks Club. Who does this man turn out to be?

Short Answer

Answer the question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What was Ethel’s wish when she learned she was dying?

Paired Resource

“Jackson Street: A Tale of Two Dads” by Seattle Channel

• Narrated by his son, this 13-minute video is a brief documentary about the real-life Seattle jazz legend Oscar William Holden.
• Consider the type of discrimination that Henry and Keiko experience, compared to that of Oscar Holden. In what ways are their experiences similar? In what ways are they different?

Chapters 13-16

Reading Check

1. In Chapter 13, who is the new owner of the Panama Hotel whom Henry speaks to?

2. When Henry opens the first suitcases he finds in the basement of the Panama Hotel, what does it contain? Name at least one object.

3. Henry wonders what will happen to people of Japanese descent who live on what two islands?

Short Answer

Answer the question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is the source of the smoke that Henry smells in Chapter 16, as he makes his way toward Nihonmachi?

Chapters 17-22

Reading Check

1. In the basement of the Panama Hotel, Henry finds an old copy of what Japanese-language newspaper?

2. What kind of tree did Henry grow from a branch cutting that was harvested in Japantown on the day Marty was born?

3. What kind of work does Chaz Preston do?

Short Answer

Answer the question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What decision did Henry make regarding Ethel’s care that is a source of unresolved tension between Henry and Marty?

Paired Resource

“These Century-Old Businesses Define Seattle’s Japantown” from Condé Nast Traveler

• This article profiles several Japantown businesses that remain intact nearly eight decades after the Japanese internment.
• Which of these establishments appear in Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet? What has changed over the last 80 years about the way Asian Americans are treated in the United States?

Chapters 23-27

Reading Check

1. In Chapter 24, what department store does Keiko lead Henry through?

2. When Henry meets Keiko’s family for lunch at the Japanese market, what event do Keiko’s parents invite him to later that evening?

3. Whom does Henry unexpectedly meet in Nihonmachi, where thousands of people line up with their belongings, ready to board buses and trains?

Short Answer

Answer the question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Henry defend his father (Marty’s grandfather) for being fearful? In your answer, be sure to name the piece of legislation Henry cites in his defense.

Chapters 28-32

Reading Check

1. In 1986, in the basement of the Panama Hotel, Henry is stunned to discover a drawing depicting what?

2. According to Henry, did Ethel know about Henry’s childhood friendship with Keiko?

3. What job at Camp Harmony does Mrs. Beatty offer Henry?

Short Answer

Answer the question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is the general nature of Mrs. Beatty’s black-market arrangement at Camp Harmony?

Paired Resource

Camp Harmony Exhibit from the University of Washington Libraries

• This exhibit tells the story of Seattle’s Japanese American community in the spring/summer of 1942, when they were sequestered for four months at the Puyallup Assembly Center known as “Camp Harmony.”
• Which features of Camp Harmony described in the exhibit are also portrayed in the novel?

Chapters 33-39

Reading Check

1. What special type of candy does Samantha make for Henry and Marty?

2. Where does Mrs. Beatty hide gifts for Keiko so that they’re not found by Camp Harmony soldiers?

3. How does Henry’s mother covertly give Keiko’s letters to Henry without Henry’s father noticing?

4. Immediately after Henry’s father’s stroke, he whispers one word to Henry. What is that word?

Short Answer

Answer the question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What bad habit is Marty trying to quit? Why does this habit make him feel guilty?

Chapters 40-47

Reading Check

1. What surprise gift does Henry bring to the nursing home for Sheldon?

2. When Henry returns home from Camp Minidoka, what does he find tucked in the pocket of an expensive suit laid on his bed?

3. What historic Seattle building does Chaz Preston tell Henry his father plans to buy?

4. What type of flower does Ethel give to Henry outside the Panama Hotel?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. At Camp Minidoka, Japanese internees are asked to swear loyalty to the United States and join the US Army. Why is Mr. Okabe considering doing so?

2. What does Henry’s father mean when, in his dying breath, he says, “I did it for you”?

Paired Resource

“Minidoka Internment National Monument” from Encyclopedia Britannica

• Once a site for nearly 10,000 Japanese American prisoners in southern Idaho, the Minidoka Internment National Monument is now a historic site that preserves one of several camps established in 1942 by the War Relocation Authority.
• The Minidoka Internment National Monument was once a detention camp, but now it is a tourist destination. What do you think about this type of tourism?

Chapters 48-52

Reading Check

1. Sheldon’s last wish to Henry is that Henry “fix it.” What is he referring to?

2. Where does Henry go to see if the Oscar Holden record can be fixed?

3. Henry visits New York City for the first time to visit Keiko. What neighborhood does she live in?

Short Answer

Answer the question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. When Samantha suggests that Henry return the sketchbooks to their rightful owner, why does Henry disagree?

Recommended Next Reads

Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese American Family by Yoshiko Uchida

• Desert Exile is a memoir of the author’s family’s experience as Japanese Americans interned in Utah’s Topaz Relocation Center.
• This memoir explores the traumatic experience of imprisoned Japanese Americans in the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack; in doing so, it explores what Being an American meant for Japanese Americans at that time.
• Desert Exile on SuperSummary.com

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei

• This graphic memoir by popular Japanese American actor George Takei describes his experiences when he and his family were interned at Camp Rohwer in Arkansas.
• Takei describes taking the “Loyalty Questionnaire” in the camp, raising bigger questions concerning Loyalty and what Being an American means.
• They Called Us Enemy on SuperSummary.com