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?