When the weather changes, so does your life. Continue reading →
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On Forgetting Your Umbrella in Japan
When the weather changes, so does your life. Continue reading
On Condescending Expats in Japan
Written as a counterpoint to my recent post about being condescended as a foreigner in Japan, I wrote a snarky column rant for Fukuoka Now! magazine this month about being condescended by foreigners in Japan.
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On Law (and Order) in Japan
When I look at the Japanese justice system, I see it through the eyes of Law and Order. I imagine a Law and Order: Kabukicho edition, with one episode focusing on a university student who downloads an AKB48 album. Continue reading
On Writing About Rain in Japan
It’s tsuyu, rainy season, a designation determined by a group of experts without regard to actual rainfall. It rained once on the day after they had declared the end of rainy season, and that rain was designated non-rainy season rain. It was just rain. Continue reading
On Answering Stupid Questions in Japan
Imagine small, square dishes spread out on the black lacquer table, their white porcelain framing the slimy greens and reds of the usual Japanese delicacies. You’ve folded your legs, seiza-style, on cushions of gold-and-blue flowers. Your co-workers grab chopsticks and, with an “itadakimasu,” begin to eat. You join them. And then, almost as ritualistically as the tapping of beer glasses, someone turns to you and asks:
“You can use chopsticks?” Continue reading
On Being Alone in a Room in Japan
I once saw a man staring at a handheld television set on a train, eyes swelling with tears, looking at what might have been video footage of a woman gazing back at him, her eyes wet with empathy and openness.
I wondered if Japan had a special market for DVDs of women sadly staring through the TV frame into the eyes of lonely salary men, distracting them from the complex horror of solitude.
It was just some sort of weird toothpaste commercial, the man, perhaps, had allergies. Continue reading
This Japanese Life. 