I Live In An Old Movie..

A Pretty Leaf..

Many people come to Japan with preconceived ideas about how it will be. I find that, more often than not, they maintain an overly cheery and unrealistic, ever-optimistic opinion about the place, refusing to acknowledge even the most blatant realities. Usually it's because they've married or have had children with a Japanese national (good luck finding your kids when your spouse kidnaps them; the Japanese government won't help you...or care ), or bought a house, and so have some investment in the place and can't readily leave.

In other instances, they're able to date out of their league, or are having too much fun to care. A lot of the time though, they're just sheltered and/or don't notice or want to think about these things. Most of these people have never been homeless, or seen a bullet- ridden body, or been stabbed at with a knife. Observations like mine can come off a bit...blunt..to these people, and I've been referred to as a pessimist. I think I'm more of a realist; I can feed a tiger a bloody horse leg that's been cut off with a chainsaw and still appreciate the beauty of the predator-prey dynamic. I know this because I've done it, and that's what I was thinking at the time.

I would describe myself as...clinical. For that type of person, maybe my last post was a bit..how do the hippies describe it.."negative "...so here's a picture of a pretty leaf.

"Worldwide"...riiiiight...

Demographically speaking, Japan is (obviously ) quite homogeneous; it's what makes it interesting - a mostly closed society that's really more of a tribe than a country. This doesn't prevent the Japanese media from trying to present it as otherwise, however.

Just sprinkle some foreign faces into whatever you're presenting to give it that "international " flavour. Much more effective if those faces are white (or can speak fluent Japanese) because in Japanese eyes, white equates to "high quality ". Want to teach English but not a native English speaker? No problem - your blue eyes and blonde hair will suffice. Japanese students won't know the difference anyway..

JKFC