What an annoying set of words. I mean people don’t say it, they more insinuate it with their actions and expressions. Either way, once you hear or sense it, you know you’ve fucked up in some way or another. As a resident in Japan, this happens quite often, even after nearly a decade. Now though, I don’t really care. I’m pretty blasé about it all. But at the same time, I think we shouldn’t expect people to just assimilate to other cultures.

Especially in Japan. The culture is so context-based it’s very easy for Japanese people to expect non-Japanese to know things. And when you’re trying to bridge the two cultures, sometimes it’s frankly annoying. Not to explain to the non-Japanese the ins and outs of Japanese culture, no, that part’s understandable. The hard part is to explain to the Japanese that they truly are unique, and that some facets of their culture are completely taken for granted that need to be explained. In other words, I think the Japanese need to be more understandable, although I can’t blame them for trying.