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Never having traveled out of Japan before, both men were taken aback by American casualness. "I was puzzled by the name Lazy 8," says Harry. "To us 'lazy' means only 'lazy,' as in sleeping off the saki. Now I know that 'lazy' can also mean 'laid-back.' " Kaz, for his part, found the relationship between boss and worker hard to fathom. Used to bowing when meeting a superior, he now greets John Morse, the third-generation Montanan hired to run the Lazy 8, by shouting "Hi, John!" "Yeah, Kaz, you guys gotta get rid of that junk," says Chaffin, offering a lesson in American egalitarianism between bites of a roast beef sandwich. "People who run things aren't any better than us. They just make more money."
Harry has become enamored of the American way of life, sporting a bumper sticker on his Ford Bronco II that reads HAVE A NICE DAY in Japanese, and dreaming of staying on in Montana beyond his two-year stint. While they have become proficient at roping calves, building fences, pitching hay and loading oats, both men say the best part of their experience has been the horseback riding. "Out on the plains, galloping along, I feel like a real cowboy," says Kaz. "But you sure as hell don't look like one!" jokes Chaffin as the room resounds with laughter.
"We've had our problems," says Carpenter, loading a plate of spaghetti and meatballs into the microwave. "But they mostly relate to language. These guys know some English, but they don't know American slang, and cowboys use a lot of slang, much of it unprintable." There was, for instance, some misunderstanding involving the word bull. Kaz and Harry arrived thinking it meant the male bovine, but when Carpenter and others say "that's a lot of bull," they may not be referring to cattle. "I don't always want to look everything up," admits Harry, who attends English classes at nearby Western Montana College. "So sometimes I pretend to understand when I don't."
While some people still express resentment at the ranch's sale, most have accepted Zenchiku as a friendly presence. Morse feels that any remaining suspicion toward the company is similar to the feelings townspeople would have had about any outsider. "They're as worried about Californians," he says, noting that the previous owner, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., is based in New York City -- a place hardly more familiar to Montanans than Tokyo.
One factor in the change of mood was Zenchiku's willingness to invest locally. The company gave $10,000 to the hospital, and buys much of its farm machinery from the local John Deere outlet. Jackets and hats sporting the Zenchiku logo were given to each of the employees, who sometimes wear them out to the local saloons. Zenchiku has even sponsored their own bowling team, though neither of the Japanese ranchers participates. "I prefer martial arts," says Kaz, who teaches judo to a handful of Montanans in town.