The story "Mr. Know-All" takes place in international waters on an ocean going liner sailing from San Fracisco ( the USA) to Yokohama (Japan) on the Pacific ocean. As the war had just ended, it was difficult to get accomodations. Therefore, the narrator had to share a cabin with a total stranger, but he expected him to be one of his own countrymen: "The war had just finished and the passenger traffic in the ocean going liners was heavy. Accommodation was very hard to get and you had to put up with whatever the agents chose to offer you."