Mayu and I celebrated the 4th of July in our own way here in Japan. We invited a few of our neighbors, both American and Australian, to join us in having a barbecue outside our apartment building. We had a great time and lit off fireworks. The nice thing about fireworks in Japan is that you can find them anywhere, at convenience stores and even toy departments at department stores like Jusco. But in Arizona where I'm from, I recently read that possession of fireworks can lead to $2,000 in penalties and possibly up to six months in jail depending on the circumstances. Sheesh. So, I get to enjoy fireworks in Japanese summers as much as I want. We celebrated Independence day properly with plenty of fireworks. I can be patriotic even when I'm living in Japan. (In fact, out of all the Americans who live in my apartment building, I was the only one who voted in 2000.) A few weeks ago I was asked by my school's secretary if I am a patriot. That's not a question one is asked very often, and after living in Japan for two years I hesitated to say yes. I did, but I didn't feel comfortable about it. Let me explain why.The Japanese word for "patriot" is "aikokusha," which literally translates to "a person who loves his/her country." In Japan, there's not much to be patriotic about. Those who are patriotic are looked at with disdain. I think Japan's widespread patriotism ended when they lost the war, which put an end to the whole East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere nonsense, in which the government used the Shinto religion and people's loyalty to the Emperor to convince everyone that the rest of Asia is better off being subjected to the brutal Japanese military. I guess all the butchery, rape and murder was their idea of "tough love." It took a couple of atomic bombs to get them to knock it off, and Japan has suffered an inferiority complex ever since. The rest of Asia hates them for what they did, and yet at the same time they are jealous of the prosperity Japan has enjoyed.
What has this left for Japan? A guilty conscience that they try to appease by re-writing history, and a shame for their national flag and anthem. (As a personal opinion, the Japanese national anthem is rather slow dreary sounding. I've heard this on many school occasions such as graduation ceremonies, and it does not sound triumphant as the "Star Spangled Banner" I'm used to back home.) Who take the claim of being patriots? The uyoku: idiots who drive around in big black vans and trucks blaring their fascist rhetoric over loudspeakers, giving speeches in city areas and nobody listens to them. These are the morons who want to revert back to pre-War Japanese society and "reclaim the lost territories" like Korea, China and Vietnam. You see, in America you have anarchists on the extreme Right and communists on the Left. In Japan you still have commies on the Left, but on the Right you have these fascist, nationalistic pinheads. As it turns out, Japanese prime ministers often kowtow to these jerks. The current prime minister Koizumi enjoyed a brief popularity as he gave lip service about reforming the Japanese infrastructure.... until he visited the controversial grave that honors Japanese soldiers. The governor of Tokyo is known to be a fascist racist as well, and he once said something to the effect that the problem with Tokyo is all the foreigners living there. To top it all off, the Nationalists enjoy a warm friendship with another fringe group, the Yakuza. These guys claim to be true patriots. Dear me!
Living in Japan has taught me an important lesson in loving my country, the United States of America. There's a lot I can't stand in America, but it's still the best country in the world to live. After the events of September 11th, this Independence Day meant more to Americans than just hamburgers and hot dogs and seeing fireworks displays. We've been reminded how good it is to be Americans. And as much as the liberal left-wingers seem to hate everything America stands for because our government was created by white males who believed in God and who weren't fortunate enough to have perfectly shame-free Democrat lives such as former President Bill Clinton and Senator Robert Byrd, I'm glad I am an American.
OK, here's a bit of advice for Japanese kids who wear T-shirts printed in English they can't understand: you run a very big risk of having gaijin like myself embarass you in front of your family at a highway rest area, take your picture, and post it on the Internet without you knowing. HA! Silly twerp.
Moving to America this summer has been a difficult decision for us to make. Although Mayu has visited America several times, this will be her first time to actually live there. And moving to a foreign country for the first time can be so exciting and scary at the same time, as I well know from moving to Japan two years ago. And moving back to America is scary for me as well, in a totally different way. I've lived in Japan for two years, and I've become comfortable here. I've had the easiest job I'll probably ever have in my life. I got over my episode of culture shock earlier this year (although I certainly run the risk of having it all over again if I have to endure another winter in a drafty Japanese apartment). Additionally, I have had an apartment that's nearly free, and each month I have been paid more than a college graduate could typically expect. I get a lot of vacation time, and I am having fun in Japan. But on top of all this, there is the element of resistance to change.
There comes a point in our lives when we have become comfortable with the routine of daily life, and when change is imminent, it can be intimidating. When we are forced to rethink our way of life and move our mind into a whole new paradigm of thought, it can be rather scary. But we must not let fear take ahold. My philosophy is that the worst thing that can happen to me is if I die. But even that isn't such a bad thing, since I'd be with God and I hear that heaven is a pretty neat place and all that. But I guess there's an awkward period where expatriates have to readjust to living in their home country after spending a few years abroad. When they come home, they think, "Well, now what do I do next?" They might not already have a job waiting for them at first, and they may not know what to do with their lives. Since I've become comfortable with my life here in Japan, I'll need to reassemble my life all over again once I go back home. Thinking about that makes me feel uncomfortable, but it's a process I will have to go through in order to make our new life in America. However, I want to make that process as short as possible for myself. Some people I've known have used the money they saved in Japan and taken several months off, just relaxing. I wish I could just take it easy and slowly readjust to the American way of life, but I can't afford to do that. Unlike them, I'm married now, and marriage presents responsibilities.
My plan so far is that I will use the money I've saved up and go back to college and hopefully get a masters degree. I'll be going back to school almost immediately after I fly home to Arizona. But while I'm going to school full time, that means that I will have to work only part-time and that Mayu will probably have to get a job as well. We'll have to stay with my parents a bit at first until we can get a place of our own. We may not have a car at first, but we'll buy a pair of bicycles and get by. It's difficult to find a job that will work around a school schedule and yet will pay fairly well. I haven't had a part-time job in a few years and I'm not really looking forward to it. It's going to be a big change going from an annual salary to working a part-time job and going to school, but I'm sure we can make ends meet. It will be fun to live in America because we'll be together.
There's a lot of stuff I'm really not looking forward to when I return to the U.S.A. I think I've been lucky for the past two years, being spared from all the crud that is washed over America daily. I kinda keep abreast on current issues back in America, but I feel detached. I was shocked after the September 11th attack on America, yet I have not been in America since before the incident. I have not seen how it has affected the lives of average Americans. And lately my home state of Arizona was ablaze in fire and towns were destroyed because the silly environmentalists have prevented the thinning of forests and clearing away of deadfall. Well, now look at the environment, dummies. It's burned to the ground. Normally I'd feel outraged by such stupidity, yet living in Japan has isolated me from such feelings.
I am particularly concerned about what type of job I will have when I go back. I guess I can get about $9-10 an hour, but I wonder about Mayu. I certainly don't want her to have to work a minimum-wage job though, because I've had my share of pretty cruddy minimum-wage jobs. I once worked at Cinnabon for five days many years ago. Everyone called me "dude" and treated me badly because I was a college student and they were all either high school students or dropouts, and they wanted revenge or something. One day I changed my name on my nametag to "Rasputin" and had plenty of customers comment on it and laugh about it the whole day. My stupid manager laughed along with it the whole time and didn't catch onto the fact that I actually had changed my nametag until the end of the day, and then she had a conniption fit. I quit a few days later. Retarded place to work. A place that requires you to wear some gay hat all day isn't worth it. The year before that I worked at a Mediterranean food place in the same mall. The place would have been nice if it wasn't bankrupt. They could barely afford to buy ketchup most of the time. We sold gyros, which aren't bad tasting. But after working there, I hated those things. The meat came packed in these unholy buckets, which I had to impale on a metal rod. It slid out in a bucket shape and they were then slowly rotated next to a grill to cook. They bled grease all day and it dripped into pans. When these pans filled up, we'd dump them into this big huge, evil-smelling barrel of manevolence. On top of that, we had to serve disgusting food like hummus, and stinky feta cheese (goat's milk cheese). I quit at the end of that summer before I would have eventually snapped from hearing people mispronounce "gyros" all day. I don't think it's possible for anyone to work at a fast food place and have a positive working experience. I'll make sure that Mayu doesn't work at such a place in America.
I really wish I knew what awaits us in America.
Continue on to the next chapter.
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"Why do sharks explode? This is because sometimes their brains and sexual organs are made out of M-80s." --Space Ghost