Tune In Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries

Tune in Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries by Tim Anderson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked up this book because I wanted to gain a sneak peek into what my future would be if I uprooted and moved to Japan. This book is an entertaining and informative window to Japanese urban culture through a western perspective. The author discusses so many aspects of Japanese life - none of the subjects you would find in a history book, but instead the real experience of what it would be like to live in modern day Japan, with real Japanese people, not what Americans imagine them to be. The book covers different parts of the adventure that would be universal to any teaching abroad employee: random international roommates, all with their own preconceived notions of the country and goals for their time there built on those notions, comical language and custom barriers, and the experience of teaching itself.

Much of the discussion in this book is light hearted and joking, but like with all jokes, there's some truth. One of my favorite chapters is Tim discussing the word "kawaii" and how since there isn't a need to obsess about being thin in Japan (as opposed to America), the focus has shifted entirely to being cute enough. In America, an adult with a Hello Kitty purse or some other childish adornment would be mocked and probably thought a bit mentally unstable, but in Japan, it's completely the norm, accepted as though cute things are their version of bling. What's great about this chapter, and really about the book as a whole, is that while Tim is able to be cynical and critical of this idiosyncrasy, he himself has also taken part in it, finding himself buying cute clothing, t-shirts, cell phone charms - he is a westerner, has western perspectives, yet still finds himself adapting and seeing the appeal of the traditions of his new culture. The book covers topics that a sociology or anthropology or whatever type of student could study seriously, but the light treatment of the stories encountered in his everyday life makes Tim Anderson's book just as valid as any such study and far more accessible and fun to read.

Overall, while the book isn't particularly riveting, each chapter's anecdotes make it a fun read. Personally, I read this on my kindle app while traveling on the subway to and from places, so the stories were spanned over a few months for me, but given that the material isn't necessarily thought-intensive, it's a great book to unwind to and still gain some perspective along the way of what Tokyo and teaching abroad is like. Would I read it again? Probably not, but I'm glad I did.

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The Bedtime History of Dragons

The other day, I found myself thinking about dragons and why they exist in so many cultures. The world is post Harry Potter, so this really shouldn't come as a surprise.

I made some comment about wanting a historically accurate book about dragons. A friend of mine responded and the exchange ended with him asking where the myth came from. "Dragons, Tracy! The myth came from real dragons!" And as I quickly sought to reassure him of this clear and obvious fact, this is what came out:

His name was Tai Ping. 

Tai Ping was a friendly fire-breathing lizard and loved helping all of the creatures near him. Tai Ping had a wife, Mei, and their three eggs.Tai Ping lived in the land of the Far East. There were all sorts of creatures who loved Tai Ping, but he loved none more than the fragile bipedal walkers, that we today, call humans. He nurtured them, he made them fires and kept them warm; and so, with his fire of life, the village grew. But as the years went by and the village continued to grow, the people started to take Tai Ping for granted, and the weak villagers he once helped became greedy. Understanding that his immortal life was beyond their comprehension, and that the newer generations were bound to not understand that what he offered was a gift, Tai Ping and his family gave the village what they needed and then in the blink of an eye, disappeared. And so, to celebrate the spirit of their long lost and beloved fire-breathing lizard, the people of China created fireworks in honor of Tai Ping and his family. They even made a year for him, the year of the fire-breathing lizard. There were many other animals that contributed to the history of China, but that's another tale. 

Tai Ping and his family flew far, far, far away to the other end of the land, as high and isolated as they could go. The land here was surrounded by beautiful ice and water, but it was cold, so cold for a fire-breathing lizard. Nonetheless, Tai Ping and his wife had to stay, as their eggs were near hatching and needed care. After months in the cold tundra, a group of travelers settled in the mountains below Tai Ping. With the bitter cold, the fire-breathing lizards constantly breathed their fire onto their young, being sure they would be warm and cared for. One day, a  young golden hair villager decided to crawl up the steaming mountain. Astounded and frightened at the immense power of the protective, fire breathing parents, the boy managed to blurt out a "Who are you!?" Too busy breathing fire onto his eggs, Tai Ping could only answer, "DRRAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKEEEEEE!!" And with the ferocity of his answer, the young boy ran away frightened! A drake! A dräke!  Tai Ping and his wife stayed for as long as they could caring for their eggs...

I shared this story with another friend, and he asked the obvious question, "But where did the dragons come from?" I knew you would all want an answer, but as I told him, "The dragons come from the same place as humans. Africa. Duh."

Pointless post. I know. I'll work on this story.

Dreams, Ambitions, and Alternate Realities

My biggest affliction is that I live inside of my head. I am constantly being struck with new passion for things I want to do in my lifetime. I have lists upon lists of the things I want to learn, to make, to do and a rough plan to make them happen. Then, my daydreaming gets out of hand and I tend to not get anywhere at all, but instead run in circles.

"Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work." 

- Peter Drucker

Getting older, living life, seeing this mistake repeatedly has made it an easier one to avoid. I am learning how to make reasonable moves from point A to B without trying to get to C to Z at the same time. What gains and losses will occur between points A and B? How do I make points C to Z fit in sooner? Life moves slower than I expected at fifteen. I have to remember patience.

A friend told me "you are like an adventurer who hasn't had the chance to go on many adventures yet." This couldn't be truer. How do I make my adventures happen? Planning. Focus. Dedication. Patience. Passion.

I recently wrote about my excitement to learn environmental engineering. This is still huge for me, I am so excited to be doing this, and what a revelation it was to see that for the whole of my life - while seeking out the most efficient ways to do things, being conscientious of the environment, choosing my future home based on environmental factors, climatology internships and studying atmospheric science - the dream job was right in front of me. You'd think I'd have pointed myself in this direction sooner. No regrets, however. I had a big dream, to become an astrophysicist and answer the questions of the universe, not just the hows, but the whys. If the world wasn't so at risk of not being able to heal itself, perhaps I would still feel some liberties to pursue that career. Perhaps if I were to be born a century from now, when the engineers and scientists of my generation have healed the wounds of our ancestors, perhaps I would study it then. But, it will always be a part of me and part of my future so I am pleased with that.

For me, there is more than just wanting to see the world. I want to experience it. When I say I want to experience the world I mean, for example, I want to visit Ireland and know and feel what it was like to grow up there a century ago when the culture belonged to itself, was based off of the land, when I'd probably live on a farm, and read about history and fairy tales. What if I was born, raised, and died in Alaska in the early 1900s? What would it be like to experience Christmas in Italy in the 1970s? What was it like to be a teenager in America in the early 90s!? Or better yet - the 80s.  I imagine myself living a hundred different lives. These are the ideas that hold me captive. My imagination still runs completely wild - and I'm honestly happy about that.

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that we aim too high and we miss it, but we aim too low and reach it." 

- Michelangelo

I am thrilled at the idea of traveling the world, but a smidge saddened. I won't have the depth of understanding for a lifestyle as someone who has lived it for many years. The world I want to visit is disappearing. Many countries are coming into their own in the age of technology, many old ways are disappearing in newer generations. It is happening at an alarming rate. But, one day, we could be a global community... I just hope we are still full of culture.

For years there are things I have talked about with my friends. Since I was in high school I wanted to travel during college, and that never happened. I wanted to learn Japanese, to visit the country for a year, (really to grow up there and experience a trimester based school system, which makes way more sense). I want to take photographs in rural China, roam Europe on a Vespa, to understand the French way of life, the German way, the Croatian summers, and the British winters. But how much time do I have? I'll have to settle with visits. I need to be happy with my own history that is here, in America, instead of fantasizing about the richness of culture that exists in the Old World. Perhaps one day I will emigrate to another country, but for now, I am also grateful for the opportunities and people I have found here.

I keep this list of dreams posted in one place. Making dreams reality is absolutely a necessity of life for me. I may not get to every single one of them (learning eleven new languages might be a bit much), but as life goes on, I hope there are experiences on that list I will be able to return to, or share in a creative way with others.

For now, my focus is studying and gearing up for graduate school. I would love to move out of NYC and have a house in a place where I can watch the earth spin and not my head, but the program I like is here and so I will dedicate myself to making two things happen: getting into grad school and finally teaching abroad, experiences I suspect will both be very rewarding. Focus... focus... focus... SQUIRREL!

"Take a deep breath, count to ten, and tackle each task one step at a time." 

- Linda Shalaway

I tell myself everyday that everything will turn out just fine, as long as I try my very best.

Inspired!

The great part about getting older is that you really learn to appreciate who you are, your own qualities, find what you like, and you are finally far enough from childhood that you can see a bridge to it. At least this has been my experience. That said, there are a couple of things I'm now excited about.

When I was young, up until I was 19, I was really passionate about becoming an astrophysicist and solving the mysteries of the universe. Now that I'm a little older, I learned that the lifestyle of such a scientist is not what I really want for myself. Instead, I want something that uses many of my qualities and interests, and puts them all together. Thank goodness, I think I've found it: environmental engineering.

My romantic version of an environmental engineer would have me using the physics that I learned in college, then being able to learn chemistry which I never had the time for and always wanted to learn. I could be inventive and creative with theory, all the while building things and doing fun experiments. Not only would it satisfy the academic in me, I would be able to be creative, all of those hours building houses in The Sims would be a skill I might even use! Furthermore, I will get to travel! See the world! Study a million different things I've always wanted to do and what is the absolute best about this, both the foundational layer and the cherry on top: I will be able to do something inspiring, that changes the world and creates a positive effect. Yeah. I'm feeling good about this choice.

What's the point in sharing this? No point at all! I'm just excited and this is an easy post to make. I am going to be pursuing my interests with a new sense of passion. I am excited about laying claim to my life, and finally with some direction. I'm looking forward to working hard, for earning the happiness that I am sure will come from this. I feel inspired and that is something to be excited about!

Living Life on Rounded Corners

Growing up I was told that if I wanted to get into a good university I needed to demonstrate a sense of being well-rounded. I need to be a jack of all trades. Good in english and history, but also good in math and science. Take that a step further. Not only be good in academics, but have separate interests outside of school to really set myself apart. Having grown up in the surge of our technological age, I think this has become increasingly easier for younger people to do with the resources at hand.

Now, in my mid-twenties, I question the use of being well-rounded. I look at people who have had a singular passion their entire lives, been able to dedicate themselves to one particular thing. This is an existence I can hardly comprehend, but as such, admire fiercely.

Being well-rounded was never an issue for me. Academics in high school came easily to me, and I was lazy about many things. I never really pushed myself to excel, because I was always near the top. I did not have a developed sense of pushing against myself and my own limitations. This was the same when I pursued any extracurricular activity as well. This is where my sense of regret comes into play. I wish I had pushed myself harder in each facet of my life at the time. Had I pushed myself harder, I may have become less rounded, and a sharper individual in a particular area, or I could have become superb in a number of areas - I don't know. (I like to think the latter, because it appeals to my ego).

Now, after real life came into play and there was some faltering, I am now struggling to regain my position at the top of something and my well-roundedness has made it very difficult to decide where to put that effort. I become passionate about things 3 days at a time. Meaning, I find something I'm interested in, obsess for three days, learn a ton, and then there's something new. I have had this cycle for about 3 years. Luckily, I have repeated it so many times that I now know what I like and don't like, and can now start putting my focus there. But anyway, the point of this is to reflect that encouraging a sense of well-roundedness has led to some confusion in my life. I have no finally realized to choose to do things not for want of being good at things I admire, or that reflect excellence in other areas, but to do things which suit me, and suit my own personal interests.

This is the major difference for me, having been in college and now being out and actually deciding which route to take my life in that will be both fulfilling and lucrative enough. I have had this discussion with a number of friends, and we all know now that we are choosing things that suit us. So this brings into question the actual value of being well-rounded, and if in fact it can deter you form a truer path for yourself, or in fact lead you there in a  roundabout method.

The world continues to broaden. There are more kids, ivy league schools are ridiculously expensive, and it is increasingly becoming accepted and understood that a bachelor's from some fancy school is no mark of intelligence. Life is much broader than the educational and retirement systems we have constructed for ourselves.

The point becomes, while being well-rounded is a fantastic idea, I find that being good at something is more valuable. Had I been an individual very good at academics, and interested in cooking, then I would have applied to the Culinary Institute of America, practiced cooking, and screwed doing sports and clubs and wasting my time trying to cultivate interests, that while fascinating on some level, were not really worth spending my time in. The ultimate lesson of this is to same something so cliche as to stay true to yourself and your interests.