Sorry about the tone of the last one…I was in a bad mood. Also, thanks to Yumiko for correcting my limping Japanese.

When writing emails, or anything on the subject of Japan, I have always tried to avoid being too critical or condescending, and I hope I've managed it. In re-reading a bunch of what I have sent out, I've found a few things that make me look like Lewis and/or Clark, and it makes me cringe a little. There's 14 tons of books written by foreigners, and I've found that most of them have this tone - complaints and criticism; the holier-than-thou mocking laughter of adults watching children try to master simple mechanical devices. The forewords of these books usually explain that the author has lived in Japan for 109 years, loves the culture and the people, and the seemingly bitter and insulting tales in the following pages are meant as a celebration of the differences between our cultures. After having delivered this disclaimer, it seems that the author feels he can let loose on his hosts with impunity. There are a few magazines here for the foreign (read 'English-speaking') community, and they seem to be home to those who can only put together an article or paragraph of snide comments - they need a few more years to work up 300 pages of snickering pokes at their host country and its culture.

Again, I know I'm guilty of this very thing, and I would like to exercise a bit more constraint when putting these things together. I don't mean any disrespect - after all, I've lived in Japan for almost two years, and the tales I send out are meant as celebrations of the differences between our cultures………

This is a strange place, and it's very often a funny place. To someone visiting or just arriving to live here, almost everything is bizarre, and it's an honest reaction to get that 'wait 'til I tell 'em back home' feeling. Besides, if you want dry reporting about temples and festivals, you can read travel guides and the newspaper. It's much easier to point out what's "wrong", inconvenient, unattractive, or amusing, but just because it's easier doesn't mean it's more interesting. It takes less energy to point and laugh, without trying to learn the history or social significance of the thing being laughed at.

The foreign community tends to band together, the same way immigrants do in other countries - Chinatown, Little Italy, the Latin Quarter, etc. I hear a lot of the same conversations in many places, and I have to wonder why some of these people are still here. I mean, they sound actually upset at the Japanese just for being Japanese…in Japan! It’s like being invited out to a restaurant for a lavish dinner, and complaining about the colour of the curtains. Here in Morinomiya (Little Canada), there's an occasional venting reference to something irksome or odd, but by and large the talk is either a) the same conversations everyone has about everyday things like work, money, entertainment, vacations and friends, or b) absolute nonsense. The 'b)' section makes it very hard on the Japanese contingent in our peer group, and a lot of time is spent puzzling over attempted explanations of references to Monty Python. I'm glad to have ended up in a community that has grown bored with negativity, or had very little in the first place.

So…for the next little while, I'm going to attempt to be a little more even-handed in these entries - try to swing the pendulum back more toward center. I'm not a social critic, I'm a guest. I've been complaining about the colour of the curtains too much lately, and I feel more like telling about the dinner now. The service is excellent, the table settings are beautiful, and best of all - no tipping!