I'm sure they're not all this way... very sure... but it seems that almost every gaijin I run into in Japan has it "together" in some way that makes me self-concious. They hella know this or that, or they're badasses at this sport, or they play a million musical instruments. One way or another they have some talent that they've really developed, and the confidence and pride to show it off genially.
Me, I'm unmistakably a jack-of-all and therefore no-trades. In the name of further dilettantery, I'm sitting around the house reading postmodern novels in Japanese, or biographies of despoitc leaders, or listening to Searle's objections to contemporary philosophies of mind. At the beginning of every new chapter, I sort of cringe in recognition of my recurrent and venial sin, knowing that I am building a sprawling ranch house in a city of skyscrapers.
Then I sit down with people who haven't gone to graduate school and I realize that I've got nothing to talk about with "the common people". What world am I living in where I need to be reminded that not everyone knows 2000 Kanji, not everyone can contrast the constitutions of Japan, the US and Germany, not everyone knew about Girl Talk or Ohm before me?
So yeah, I met up with my extended family today, and it were auk-werd.
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