When Mr. Mayekawa finally returned home and stood in his doorway, Mrs. Mayekawa told us, she was so surprised that she first looked to see whether he had feet -- because in Japan it is thought that ghosts do not have feet. She had assumed he was no longer alive, because he had been reported missing.
Mr. Mayekawa is probably the only governor in the history of central banking who experienced three unconditional surrenders in wartime; in Italy, Germany, and then in Japan. At the restaurant, looking at the colorful and prosperous lights of the Kurfürstendamm, he concluded his story by telling us how much he cherished peace and how much he thought sound economic development mattered.