Ushiyama Hotel

At a Japanese-run hotel in an unnamed port of French Indochina, a departing branch manager and his mistress prepare to go their separate ways. Sato has money for her journey home, but neither the man who provided it nor the women around her can agree on what freedom should mean for her.

A new manager arrives with his wife, photographers and merchants linger over drinks, and a farewell banquet turns sour. Behind the hotel’s everyday bustle are debts, unhappy marriages, colonial hierarchies, and the bargains people make to survive. An unexpected act of violence sharpens questions that ordinary conversation has left unresolved.

Kishida Kunio, a central figure in modern Japanese theater, builds this five-scene play from intimate speech, uncomfortable silences, and sharply observed social encounters. First published in 1929, Ushiyama Hotel offers an unsentimental portrait of expatriate life and the limits of benevolence. This complete English translation preserves every scene and stage direction, with concise notes on historical expressions, dialect, French dialogue, and names.