job merits
By jp 01 Aug 2002
this is on file over at my site, but given the lack of posts lately, I thought it might be good as a discussion sparker. rant:
<p>first, I should say that I’m really enjoying my time in Japan. alot. so much so, in fact, that I’m finding myself jealous in a really irrational way of any other gaijin that has any reason to be here longer than the three month <span class="caps">VISA</span>’s I keep having to get. part of it stems from the fact that Japan is inherently for the Japanese, so postions for a foreign fella such as myself are few and far between (you can’t even work the convience stores here without significant lingual skills and knowledge of the more polite forms of speech, unlike the US of A). therefore, any gaijin being here represents one less chance for me to visit an extended stay on this place. but moreover, I think the fact is that I’m really making a huge effort to get deep into the language, the life, and the culture to figure out what being 24 in Japan is all about. and while I’m doing this in the <span class="caps">EXTREMELY</span> limited windows of time I’m afforded here, I get to watch any old dink from america, who’s usually too much of a twit back home to be bearable or has some sick asian/pedophile/both fetish going on come over here to ride the wave of good fortune that one gets by being an american dude. </p>
<p>so my angst is thus: given the chance, I’d love to explore the culture deeper, and further my understanding of what modern Japan is about. I’d hate being an english teacher, and I’d be bad at it, so till then I’m stuck biding my time waiting for a post-doc, job, etc to come along and whisk me off to mochiland. but in the mean time, since all american men are stereotyped together, I have to sit by and watch a bunch of directionless, indifferent dolts march through this place, sleeping with their students, “teaching” english whatever way they please (since who’s to say if they’re a bad teacher?), tainting the reputation I’m going to eventually carry and basically using this place as a playground, to eventually leave, as americans leave all things, littered with the detritus of their time spent. </p>
<p>it’s pretty clear, in some respects, why the US has such bad global relations politically – just look at our minor emmisaries. any US national almost always stands out abroad, save the few that try to blend and merge rather than conform the space around them to their wishes.</p>