The house he built was a spacious one. There was a courtyard in front of the place and two gardens in back, one to provide vegetables, one to delight the eye in the formal Japanese fashion. One of the two living-rooms was American, with easy chairs instead of tatami, and so were the kitchen and bathroom fittings. Dinner was Japanese, the family sitting on the floor in the traditional way. Breakfast was American, pancakes or bacon and eggs, taken at the kitchen table.