Since I've got the floor...

There are a lot of things about Japan that I didn't expect. There are a lot of things about Japan that I did expect. I don't like to feel cheated, but I don't like to have low expectations. Sometimes there's no way around either of these things.

For instance, I expected to make friends in Japan, and this has happened. What I didn't expect was that none of them would be Japanese. To be sure, my life here is full of people, and interesting people at that. There's the Pomona people I didn't know as well before, but who now form my strongest support system. There's the SCJ kids who stuck around for the duration, and now suffer alongside me in good ol' J4. There's the JETs who somehow mistook the celebritydom of grade schools for a reason to study Japanese at ICU (oh how wrong they were). There's the artists and the writers making their way in Tokyo, livening up my evenings. There's the hapas and the APAs who I can talk to about all my favorite issues of identity, and who enlighten me as to their varied backgrounds.

But who are these people really? They're Americans. From Cali and Boston and Pennsylvania and New York and Washington, and yes, sometimes even Venezuela. They're not Japanese. Where have all the kindred Japanese spirits gone? Maybe it has something to do with the whole in-group out-group thing, maybe it has something to do with the fact that I don't live in the Japanese dorms, maybe it has just has something to do with the type of people I'm attracted to. Who really knows. But certainly, having zero conversations with real Japanese college students was something I never expected.

As Emily says, I could always go out and MAKE Japanese friends, but that's not all there is to it. I don't befriend people for their national origins, and if it hasn't happened now, nearly 13 weeks into this whole shebang, the reason for that is interesting enough. I would say it has something to do with my gender, but it also has something to do with the way that I approach people as friends.

In other news, I'd just like to say that if you play the organ, you should enter this competition in Tokyo. The grand prize was nearly FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS! Sheesh man. Who knew there was so much money in organs.

I'm tired of thinking about Japan. When does this become just living, instead of living in Japan? I guess it never does. Someday we should all stop lying about this.