Hiroshima， Japan-1907<br >:liSataro Hoshi wasn t certain exactly when he made the definite deci-<br >V~on to go to America. The stories of the great western Utopia whele<br > riches spewed from the fertile earth like lava from noble Mount Fuji<br > had fascinated him for years. Even going away to find adventure m<br > the recent war with Russia hadn t dulled his appetite for a new life<br > where a man with verve and audacity--an entrepreneur such as him，<br > self---could build a fortune.<br > It certainly couldn t be done in Japan these days. Not only did<br > the postwar depression have the country by the throat， there simply<br > was little opportunity. Only the rich got richer. But these were only<br > factors--Sataro Hoshi wanted to go to America. In his tiny cubicle<br > at the store he had tacked a map of California to the wall and a day<br > didn t pass without his studying it and living out different successes.<br > Some nights he stayed on and enacted them at English practice.<br > And always he would construct the vivid scene of his triumphal<br > return; striding down a gangplank， head held high， the elegant clothes<br > a positive statement of his great riches and conquests. His lovely Itoko<br > would follow， regal as a queen; then his elder son Noboru， confident<br > and ready to become a leader in Japanese commerce; his other son，<br > Hiroshi， the young general， waiting joyously to meet them. It was a<br ><br >