I like BIG B- – -TS and I can not Lie- You other Sumos can’t deny…

Posted on September 25, 2010 by Emily Cannell

In keeping with my recent theme, I of course had to write about the family outing to see one of Japan’s most important cultural forms of entertainment-Sumo wrestling. Sumo is the national sport of Japan in spite of what you may have heard. I have always been fairly bored watching sumo on tv – unending stops and starts, action lasting only 20 seconds, fat men wearing no clothes. Unappealing. (Apart from the clothing sounds a lot like baseball…) However, my opinion changed once I better understood the energy of sumo.

The Sumo match starts in the morning with the highest ranked Sumo, the Makuuchi, performing last. Prior to the start of their matches, the Sumo parade around the Dohyo (elevated ring made of earth where the match is performed) in traditional attire. A man enters the ring and begins to sing with an open fan held in front of his chest. I have no idea what he is singing about or to whom. His voice carries through out the venue without a mic. (This is a skill unique to the Japanese- an ability to make their voices extremely loud without yelling)This marks the start of each new match.

Canopy above Dohyo

The wrestlers enter the dohyo. Each wrestler starts to perform their shiko exercises. The wrestler lifts each leg high in the air and stomps it hard on the ground. This is followed by beating of the legs. The wrestlers take a hand full of salt and throw it on the ring for purification and strut toward the center of the ring. Now starts the belly pounding. This sounds like the beating of a drum. The referee gets in position.The sumo face eachother. They are about to start. The sumo squat and face off. One gets up. He’s called off the match. The other gets up. The entire ritual starts over. Legs go higher, belly beating gets louder and the Japanese crowd starts to stir.This happens several more times. How does one know when they will actually square off? Spouse and I figured out the key clue. There is a man who sweeps the salt off the side of the dohyo. He has a sixth sense. When the roosters’ feathers are sufficiently fluffed, he stops sweeping and leaves the ring. Then comes the action. Whoever gets knocked down or knocked out of the ring loses.

Referee and Sumo

This is really entertaining. I have two favorite moves. In the first, one sumo simply steps aside as the other charges past and loses his balance. Really, how can that happen? Second, one sumo picks up the other by the belt (mawashi) and carries him out of the ring. I like this one because the sumo being carried is usually kicking his legs and looks similar to a huge baby. It truly is the little things in life that must be savored.

During key dramatic points in the action or when famous sumo would be ready to enter the ring, several banner bearers would enter the ring with scrolls. Spouse and I were concerned that we were missing key information regarding statistics on the sumo wrestlers until these scrolls were paraded around the ring:

What I found most entertaining about sumo was the environment in which it is played. The seating area is set up on the floor. There are squares with four floor pillows in each square. Each person has a floor pillow within that square. Most westerners sit on the upper levels in the chairs. We sat with the Japanese on the floor which is the reason spouse and I can’t walk straight today. Food is available for pre-order so everyone can settle in for the day. Squeezed in to these small squares are 4 people and enough food and drink to feed 25.

For us, it wouldn’t be a family outing without a faux pas. We all took off our shoes and climbed in our “Pod”. I noticed a Japanese woman below  turned around eying us disdainfully. She nudged the woman sitting in her pod who nodded agreement and clucked her tongue. I turned to spouse,” We’ve done something- what do you think it is?” We look around for spillage, checked our offspring for offensive behavior, nothing. She saw me frantically looking around and pointedly looked at our shoes with eyebrows raised. I turned to spouse- “It’s got to do with our feet!!!” He jumped up and grabbed a shoe from underneath our pod and raised it in the air questioningly. She motioned toward the top of our pod- we’d put our shoes in the wrong spot…

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Look-My Favorite Family Member Has Come to Visit- Moving Lesson # 5

Posted on September 22, 2010 by Emily Cannell

 

Guess who this is?

 

Kidding! Really, how many jokes are possible here? The potential butts, other than family members, of whom would likely take offense are endless so I decided to go with an easy target. Plus my family has had to turn the other cheek on my transgressions for decades. Let me quickly get to the bottom line on the subject: Moving Lesson # 5- Don’t be afraid to get lost.

Spouse and I have a long-standing deal- I drive he navigates. It prevents the fights that ensue due to my medical condition termed map dyslexia. I compensate for this condition when traveling alone by carrying a map, iPhone GPS system and written directions from the website of the destination. When I found this Hapless Horse’s Half, I was splashing sweat on the sidewalk walking in circles looking for the train station- lost. My iPhone pin was bouncing from one place to the next sending me to and fro between streets that led nowhere. The author of the directions had carelessly written vague directions with landmarks only visible to those who looked up to read skyscrapers looming overheard. My map dyslexia was causing me to turn the wrong direction at every street.

I was not in distress. I was not nervous. First of all, Tokyo is one of the safest cities in the world. Second of all, I had my back up plan in my bag- cab fare and the address in Japanese. Because of my back up plan, I was able to enjoy the scenery as it passed. Along the way, I noticed the Japanese do in fact decorate everything, including man-hole and fire extinguisher covers. Note examples below:


I’ve also learned that my favorite places have been discovered while lost. My sister, “the nose” (Her nickname related to her ability to sniff out all locations not due to the size or shape of her beak), likes to look for “short cuts” no matter what city she visits invariably leading to wonderings far beyond the original destination which have led to wonderful cafes, photo opportunities, and purchases.

Moving Lesson #5: Don’t be afraid to get lost. Keep emergency cab fare and the address of the location of home on your person (not your purse,wallet or backpack) and wander the new location freely. Offspring #s #1 &2 both must have cab fare and the address in Japanese on them at all times in case they get lost and can not get home. Spouse is sporting a new tattoo on the inside of his forearm with the same information for when he gets lost. Free with the knowledge that one can jump in a cab if need be- go explore. I guess that’s the tail end of this entry…

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So- How are the Offspring Doing? Moving Lesson # 4

Posted on September 21, 2010 by Emily Cannell

A teacher told me several years ago that one’s children model their behavior after the parents. That’s probably why my offspring express themselves with expletives. In fact my son recently described me in an essay as his “immoral mother”. Mercifully spouse is the angelic ying to the anarchical yang of my influence. Although our household might deviate from the norm with regard to vocabulary restrictions, we do model the love of a change in scenery. A change of school venue, new sports teams, exposure to new geography and in this case a new culture we believe hold great value in the development of flexibility, empathy, world view, and leadership. All of which will be critical for our children when they reach adulthood.

When faced with relentless new stimuli, one has a choice. Embark upon the day with humor or panic. Understand that all of the offspring will be watching closely ready to emulate your every move. Not only are they better at picking up language, they will imitate every nuance of facial expression, tone of voice, and body language. They will cry if you do.

The Tokyo Metro. The subway stations get so crowded during the morning rush hour that men with white gloves shove people in to the subway cars. It reminds me of pushing the clothes in to a suitcase in order to get it to close only in this case it’s human baggage? Anyway- you get my point- it’s busy.

It’s Day 2 in Japan. We need to get our Pasmo cards for the subway. There are machines outside each turnstyle for purchasing tickets and cards. These magic cards will allow us to travel the subway without buying a ticket each trip. We make a miraculous discovery- the machine talks in English! We buy one for me- I even get my name engraved on the card. We buy another for offspring #1. Once again, I misunderstand the money and instead of putting 1000 yen (about $10) on the card I put 10000 on the card (about $100). Commas would really help me better understand the denominations. Now I don’t have enough money to get offspring #3 a card and this was hard earned cash! It took all day the previous day to find an ATM that would take my card and speak English.

The offspring watch me carefully. I unclench my teeth and smile encouragingly. “Well- the good news -Offspring #1 won’t have to refill for a while and I know where the ATM is to get more money.” The offspring relax.

Offspring # 1 is so excited to have something to put in his new wallet. “Mom- will the Pasmo work through the wallet”

Me: “I don’t know- I’d try it out of the wallet first- it’s really crowded right now”

OS #1 “K”

Offspring #1 trots over to the turnstile and intead of swiping his card over the Pasmo reader, inserts it in to the ticket slot. Every turnstile immediately closes. All the Japanese business men on the other side running to get out are now stuck. They pile up like some sort of human log jam. They are not happy and now all looking at Offspring #1. Panic stricken he turns to me. I start to laugh. Hysterical, loud, over the top laughter. Here was my son on one side of the turnstile and what looked to be about 50 angry, stuck Japanese business men on the other.

All of the sudden, a man in a uniform runs over, yanks the card out of the slot on the other side AND RUNS OFF WITH MY $100- err Pasmo card. Now it’s my turn to decide whether to laugh or cry. I whip out my Pasmo and swipe faster than a speeding bullet train. If I’m as fast as an Olympic sprinter I can catch the running uniformed man.(I don’t know why he’s running) The offspring are watching me in disbelief. I holler back “Don’t go anywhere- wait for me there” and yell after the uniformed man “Pardoname”. Spanish from a previous life. He’s running towards a door that looks like an entrance inaccessible to me. “Hai” comes next out of my mouth. That means “yes” in Japanese. This stops him. It doesn’t make sense in this environment- I might be dangerous. He stops to investigate.

We have a pantomiming session. (Please don’t play me charades.) I get my $100 – I mean the card back.

I return to find the offspring anxiously hanging over the turnstiles watching for me. I smile and wave the Pasmos in the air. They turn away as if they don’t know me. All is normal again.

We laugh. We laugh about the new Pasmo being eaten, we laugh about the mad Japanese men being late for work because of Offspring #1, we laugh about Offspring #1 trying to blame me for him putting his card in the wrong spot, and we really laugh at me jumping through the turnstile to run after the Metro official. They learn that no one died because the turnstyles were shut for 2 minutes. They learned that it’s more fun to laugh about the mishaps that will invariably occur every day than to cry about them. That makes life much more entertaining.

Moving Lesson #4: Model the Behavior One Wants the Offspring to Emulate

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I’m Sorry Spouse- I’ve Found a New Love-

Posted on September 21, 2010 by Emily Cannell

The Ramen Noodle. Yes- the infamous squiggley noodle from a bag. 4 for a $1.00. This is what the real thing looks like:

There are many variations- soy, pork, miso based- all good. Offspring #1 likes the “screamin’ ramen” I like the “ragin’ ramen” and offspring #2 likes the soy based although a claim has been made that choking ensues due to new braces. I never choked on spaghetti when I had braces- nor have I heard any outcries regarding this topic from angry Japanese and Italians.

The proper way to ingest is to hold the noodles in the air as shown above and slurp in to the mouth.This leads to sucking and slurping sounds because the noodles are being sucked in to the mouth as the broth is simultaneously being slurped off the noodle. Offspring #1, whose manners are similar to a caveman, was progressing toward Viking upon arrival in Japan. He is now back to neanderthal by fully embracing the slurping concept and applying to Western situations. In fact, OS #1’s soup broth sometimes gets slopped on to his neighbor which now necessitates him having to sit in between other family members to prevent insult to other patrons. Additionally, OF#1 has to be checked prior to leaving for particles which may have been slurped in to hair or eyebrows. The apple didn’t fall too far from the tree however since I usually have remnants on my shirt and lap.

This reminds of the famous writer and great poet Dr. Seuss:

I will eat them on a train, I will eat them in the rain,

I will eat them in a car, I will eat them with the czar…

Posted in Moving to Japan | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

It’s Ground Hog Day- I Mean Moving Day

Posted on September 20, 2010 by Emily Cannell

It’s moving day and a typhoon is baring down on Tokyo. Already the wind is blowing the rain sideways. I only know about the typhoon because of the email cascade from school- I can’t understand the news.

Two ancient Japanese men and one woman stand outside my apartment door- our precious 1400 lbs from home on the doorstep. I’m especially glad to see it. The instructions to obtain unaccompanied baggage forms to be stamped at customs upon our arrival came via email 3 days after we landed. No customs forms -no shipment. Alas- a loophole- one apology letter later and a promise of duty to be paid and the shipment is released and on our doorstep.

Each item box has been weighed and categorized for tracking and customs declaration. Each box has been packed carefully for load management on an airplane. Each item has been carefully evaluated as to it’s necessity for the trip to Japan- storage space is non existent.

I unpack to the screeching of wind. I’m exhausted. I’ve listened to the cable man explain how to use 3 clickers all in Japanese, the concierge explain how to set the Japanese water heater, the Japanese dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, and security system. My brain is numb.

I open the last box! Is it all here? My jewelry? The silver? Clothes- shoes- knives- Wendy Shorman’s softball bat- What!!! Off spring number 1’s classmate Wendy Shorman? I’m so glad that Wendy’s sball bat made it- now- how did we get it in the first place.

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Moving #4/Culture Lesson #3- School Choice and Face

Posted on September 19, 2010 by Emily Cannell

School choice is one of the most stressful decisions of the move. When we learned of our potential move and made plans to visit Japan for our “look see” I immediately Googled schools. My choices were limited to English speaking, therefore private, within a certain geography, and close to spouse’s office. Based on this, I narrowed the list to 5 schools. After looking at the web sites, reviewing the matriculation stats, class sizes, teacher tenures, and the available data on standardized test scores I decided to visit three schools.

Although we did not know if our move would materialize for 6-8 weeks, it was already the first of June. I knew we had missed the admissions process so I did not wait for the finalization of the job to start the admissions process.The worst that could happen would be acceptance of enrollment that I could then turn down.I stayed up late to call my target schools.

I called my first school. The admissions director’s voice mail picked up. I will call her “number 4” because in Japan the number 4 is associated with all things bad. So bad in fact, I won’t outline exactly what it means in this blog.I’m actually afraid that bad things might rain down on me for assigning this nickname to another person, however, as you will see, the street runs both ways, and she must own her behavior, therefore her nickname stays. Initially I thought Dragon lady would be a nice nickname for her, however,  it is a positive nickname in Japan -not in keeping with my current attitude of cultural assimilation.

I called the other schools. I made appointments for Monday afternoon.

Tuesday came and I had not heard back from Number 4. 24 hours was enough time – I was leaving for Japan in 2 days and I needed to finalize my agenda. I called number 4. The conversation went like this:

Me: Hi- Number 4? This is ambler angel- My husband and I …..I’m interupted by #4

4: I KNOW WHO YOU ARE YOU CALLED ME YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!I WAS SICK- YOU DIDN’T GIVE ME ENOUGH TIME TO CALL YOU BACK

Me: I’m sorry- I wasn’t sure you got my message… interrupted by #4

4: OF COURSE I GOT YOUR MESSAGE!!!!!!!!!

Me: UUHHH, Ok, then … well… would it be ok to get together next week to talk… interrupted by #4

4: HOW OLD ARE YOUR KIDS? ABC SCHOOL IS NOT RIGHT FOR EVERYONE- MIGHT NOT BE RIGHT FOR YOUR KIDS!!

( How could she know that?)

Me: They are in F grade and H grade in the fall…

4: WHAT!!!!!!!! F GRADE WILL HAVE TO CHANGE SCHOOLS IN 2 YEARS AND WE ARE A JAPANESE IMMERSION SCHOOL- THIS IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. ARE YOU COMMITTED TO JAPANESE AND JAPAN!!!!!!

Me: Yes- both should take Japanese and we are planning to stay for a while…. another interruption

4: HOW ABOUT SPORTS

Now I can just about feel the spray of her spittle coming through the phone. Sheesh. I wish I’d waited for her to call me back.

Me: Both kids play sports. Listen- are you available on Monday? I have an appt scheduled for Monday at 1:00- I could come in the morning?

4: YOU DON’T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO VISIT TWO SCHOOLS IN ONE DAY! ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!!!

Most of you are wondering why I even bothered at this point. 1) This school came highly recommended and is one of the top schools in Tokyo 2) I needed at least 2 viable options for my kids in August- I couldn’t afford to make #4 angry (angrier)

Me: Unfortunately, we are only in town for the weekend and that Monday- we can only visit schools on Monday. I don’t have a choice.

4: WHAT?????? POOR PLANNING !YOU CAN’T EVEN LOOK AT APARTMENTS ON THE WEEKEND. REAL ESTATE AGENTS DON’T WORK ON WEEKENDS. YOU’VE MADE A TREMENDOUS MISTAKE

Now I feel bile rising up in my throat. I have to do something fast or I’m not getting in to this school. I’m afraid she’s going to hang up on me. I’m desperate. I switch tactics.

Me:  4- That’s what happens when the husbands make the plans without the wife’s input. They just don’t know how to execute the tactics.

Silence. Excrutiating, long, dead silence.

#4 starts to laugh.

#4- AHH- you are so right. Can you come early? Maybe by 8:00- then we can try to get you out by 12:00 so you can make your 1:00″

My kids didn’t go to this school. It was a wonderful school. The only reason we didn’t choose it was because offspring #1 would have had to change schools within 2 years of starting- too unsettling so soon after a life changing event.

Follow your gut. When one picks a school- you feel which one is right. You know. Pick that one. I’ve done it several times now. I haven’t been wrong yet. One always rises to the top as the choice.

Culture Lesson #3– What actually happened here? Why was I greeted with such hostility? I made a critical mistake in Japanese culture. One that I will not repeat. Culture Lesson #3 is about the value of “Face.” The Japanese are always “Giving you Face”. We might view it as ” making you look good”, giving compliments, or praising someone on something that was done. In general, the Japanese do not express negative thought to your face ever. It would cause you to “lose face” or look bad in front of others.

I allowed the admissions director to “lose face.” By not allowing her to call back within a reasonable amount of time, it made her look bad.  She had been out sick and had only been in her office for a couple of hours when I called. She was “feeling bad” that I “caught her” before she called back and not only did she lose face but in the Japanese culture it made the school look bad as well. Ultimately, it could hurt the school’s chances of admissions. In addition, it made me look like the typical, pushy,insensitive American/westerner- overanxious, must get it done yesterday, lack of respect for Japanese culture type of American with which the Japanese are all to familiar.

One would think the Japanese would be used to this obsessive behavior from the Americans transferring in to Japan. We are a nation of helicopter parents intent on getting our kids in to Ivy League schools. One of my friends who recently moved to Connecticut described families who have their children take lessons for two instruments, participate in at least two sports per season and repeat the 8th grade in order to increase the chances of admission to an Ivy league school by bumping up their GPAs and improving their SAT scores. Interestingly, these are no t the families that are moving out of the country. The risk/benefit ratio of having an international experience on the college app must be outweighed by the possibility of Jr.’s parents being unable to appropriately micromanage Jr in an international setting.

In fact I found out later that relocation companies usually manage the school interviews process. Yet another process I bumbled my way through. No wonder she was cranky.

So, based on this, I’ll rename her Grand PooBa since no one gets in without her approval and it was I who made the mistakes. She was very pleasant after I groveled my way through the interviews.

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Grocery Store

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Emily Cannell

Ah, fresh seafood on the menu tonight. So many choices, some I’ve not seen even on the coastal town where I spent my summers. The first one I’ve never seen anywhere- ever- abalone. Alive. Crawling around. Interesting. I didn’t know humans ate abalone. I’ve only seen sea otters at the San Francisco aquarium enjoy them.

 

Abalone

 

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On Language- Why is it Hard to Learn Japanese?

Posted on September 16, 2010 by Emily Cannell

You’ll be happy to know I’ve spent hours analysing why instead of learning how to… This is what I’ve decided on the much discussed issue of the difficulty of learning not only Japanese but an Asian language. I break from the traditional theories in that mine goes beyond the obvious.

Let’s go through the obvious- characters. Characters- or kanji- represent words and there are 2300 of them to learn. It takes the average Japanese native until high school to commit all to memory. In addition, there are Hiragana and Katakana – two systems of symbols representing sounds. Unlike our alphabet which would combine letters to make sounds- say g and a together make the GA sound, there are several characters that represent the various sounds that g and a can make when combined. In summary, lots of katakana and hiragana representing every phonetic sound known combined with characters that all look the same. Hard. Obvious.

Second- and this is missed by most- syllables. Each word has an astounding number of syllables. I have taken the time to review a few commonly used words as examples.

ohayoo gozaimas- 6 syllables                     good morning  3 syllables

doo itashi-mashite – 6 syllables                 You’re welcome 3 syllables

doomo-2 syllables                                          thanks 1 syllable

hamaguri-4 syllables                                    clam- 1 syllable

Think about how that impacts a conversation. It makes a LONG sentence. The movie “Lost in Translation” has a nice example of this. The model scene. The Japanese director is going on and on in Japanese – it takes a good 3 minutes. The question is asked “What did he say?” and the answer is given “He said ‘ do like this’ ” I marvel when I listen to my words translated.

I propose its harder to commit longer words to memory than shorter ones. Who’s with me?

Next- sentence structure. It’s backwards. The subject and predicate are in different spots which makes it difficult to think as you speak. For instance.

Can you speak English? The order in Japanese is “English speak can you?”

Where is the grocery store? The order is “Grocery store where is the?”

This forces more memorization on to an already taxed brain.

Finally- pronunciation. Every Japanese person pronounces these words differently. Take for instance “ohayoo gozaimas.” Every Japanese person has their own spin on the pronunciation of this phrase. At our apartment building, one man just said “mas” to me every morning. Some people draw out the “oh” portion. One woman at a sushi restaurant would sing the gozaimas portion  but say the ohayoo part. When its hard to recognize the word because everyone says it differently I submit it makes learning the language difficult.

If your older than 14, your brain is too hardened to pick up language easily. Of course your children will pick up the nuances of the language immediately and soon adults will no longer talk to you but to your children. There is woman at a Chinese take out restaurant who refuses to talk me now. It’s either because I can’t converse with her and my kids can or because I accused her of cheating me out of 3000 yen when in actuality I can’t get the money counting right. When she sees me she cocks her head to the side as if to convey “YOU AGAIN” and turns her body sideways to block me then speaks directly to my offspring. I’m trying to redeem myself because the food is really good.

Before school started, I arranged three Japanese lessons. One for me and two for each offspring. The teacher thought it would be a good idea for us to be combined. I politely disagreed- mainly because I’d made plans. Not wanting to be rude, I succumbed to her point of view. We started. The teacher showed us pictures of people greeting one another at various times of the day. We were to go around the table and repeat the phrased. Offspring #1 repeated, so does offspring #2, I had difficulty. This took several minutes. Next was an exercise in giving a cab directions. Offspring #1 passed with flying colors, Offspring #2 surpassed sensei’s expectations, I had questions. I couldn’t pronounce “to my left” in Japanese. I repeated what sensei was saying over and over. What I said sounded just like what she said – not to her. The offspring started to laugh. Time marched on. Sensei decided it was best to separate us. Our lessons were individual from then on. Kids learn faster. I will be the first person to take 120 hours of Japanese and not learn any.

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Japanese Van

Posted on September 15, 2010 by Emily Cannell

The Japanese van. Child seat in the back. Child seat in the front. Trunk in the front for groceries. Child number 3 carried in snugglie on Mom. For the super luxe loaded additions, options include: umbrellas attached to handle bar, UV protection gloves attached to handles for protection from sun,rain, and cold and windshield so Fuji Jr doesn’t ingest bugs during the journey. Mom sometimes wears a sunglass windshield  visor that covers her face. Most come standard with Horn- I mean bell for warning pedestrians that supermom is coming through and if she falls all HELL will break loose. There are no seat belts.

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Culture Lesson # 2- Wa

Posted on September 15, 2010 by Emily Cannell

The value of wa. One of the most important of the Japanese values. It means living in harmony with others. Wa must be achieved at all costs and one will sacrifice individual need for group need in order to achieve wa.

Spouse’s company provides relocation benefits to employees and one of them is culture training. According to my relocation counselor, most Americans need a “sales pitch” on taking the culture training course. I did not need said sales pitch because I know how ignorant I am of other cultures. The following example shows the value of understanding another’s culture, your role within that culture, and the value of wa.

If you read the entries below, you know that at this point in my story, I’m now facing a 6 week wait on the “critical to implementation of my move strategy” Iphone. Fast forward 2 weeks, I’ve gotten my alien registration card, Visa and my relocation expert and I are pounding the pavement to the Soft bank store for the Iphone. 3000 Lb gorilla- my affectionate name for the tiny Japanese woman helping me navigate through this move- has a contact in the Soft bank store for her relocating clients. I’ll call him “the Donald” because he runs his own small empire within the Soft bank store.

I’m a southerner. Inherently I’m polite. It’s how we are raised. The concept of wa goes hand in hand with my being polite in this situation where my preference was to fall on the floor, kick my legs and flail my arms. There is no excuse for rudeness- ever. There’s no excuse to be rude to the Donald when he told me that a) I can only get one phone because I don’t have alien registration cards for the kids and b) the wait can be as long as 8 weeks and c) the phones might actually get rationed and finally d) it will take a couple of hours to get the approval for us to get even one phone.

Instead, I smiled. I was polite. It’s just the way it is. “Be the river flowing around the rock” I told myself. I talked with the Donald about his dual Japanese citizenship- American and Japanese. He lived in the US for many years. Japan forces all holders of dual citizenship to choose one at the age of 21. The Donald chose Japan because of his family. Now his father asks him things like, “If America and Japan went to war, who would you fight for?” and “If the Americans wanted you to sell Japanese secrets, would you do it” in order to test his loyalty to Japan. This questioning by his father the Donald doesn’t understand. We laughed.

In the midst of my “crisis” the Donald and I had an interesting conversation about being of dual cultures and the conflict it creates. I sympathized with his forced choice and he in turn sympathized with my dilemma. I could have kicked and screamed and fought furiously against the “system” instead the Donald and I enjoyed eachother’s company during the time we spent commiserating the circumstances in which we found ourselves. Two days later, the Donald called to inform me of the arrival of our 3 new Iphones, 3 complimentary Ishuffles, and 3 complimentary electronic photo frames.

The value of wa.

Posted in Culture Lessons, Moving to Japan | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments