Recap - Massan Week 1, Ep 3

Massan

Week 1: "Even the hardest of hearts can be moved to tears"

Episode 3 (10/1/2014)

Today Massan’s father was introduced and we got to see a little bit of his background story. Ellie is also hard at work (literally) in order to show Massan's mother that she can be a good wife to Massan.

RECAP:

Things continue to be quite heated in Massan’s household. Ellie is only able to watch the conflict between Massan and his mother. She thinks back to her own mother and how she was also against her and Massan’s marriage and grows more and more frustrated but Massan comforts her and tells her it will be alright.

With renewed confidence, Ellie decides to do everything in her power to convince Massan’s mother to accept her. She begins by cleaning around the house. As banto-san is showing Ellie the tradition of “uchimizu,” Ellie tries to join in and ends up splashing water on a man approaching the house. That man turns out to be Massan’s father. He lets the incident go and proceeds to go inside. 

Meanwhile, Massan meets with his father. Its the first time they have seen each other in three years. We learn that his father was brought into his mother's household through marriage (usually the wife is brought into the husband's household).  Massan is talking with his father about his dream of making whisky in Japan and his father cannot help but show disappointment. He had also hoped that Massan would take over the family Sake brewery.

We come back to the house where everyone is getting ready for the Buddhist memorial service (hoji) for Massan's deceased grandfather. Massan's sister dresses Ellie in a sky blue kimono for the service and Massan and his sister talk about his plan to get his parents to accept Ellie. He will introduce Ellie to the Buddhist priest for the ceremony, who is very close the the family. As long as the Buddhist priest accepts Ellie, it will be hard for his parents to not accept her as well. Just before the service, Massan helps Ellie practice greeting the guests properly in Japanese. 

We end with Massan and Ellie entering the room to greet everyone...

(to be continued...)