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Scope Saturday June 30
For awhile, I've found it difficult to produce a post. I think this stems slightly from being busy at work; not wanting to deal with the question looming in my mind: does this blog suffer because I only write about things that can appeal to a general audience, not a Japan-specific audience? Living in a Japanese paradigm, do I suffer from a forced writer's block -- or rather, "the blog as an emotional outlet and thought pad" fails to work when most of your emotions and thoughts are, in some way, directly connected to an environment that not everyone knows or understands?
I have always been writing for myself, though. My goal is to preserve pieces of myself and my life throughout time so that later, I can reflect and understand that changes in myself, and the forces that has brought, and will bring those changes. Entertaining readers has always been second, but I've always felt that if wasn't writing something of value to someone, then there was no reason to make it public: I'd be better off with a private diary.
However, in writing a diary, you can literally say whatever you want -- on a blog, I may be judged by the outside world, and thus I must constantly think about reinforcing my arguments, referencing, and not being hateful, spiteful, or otherwise adopting a generally negative tone. In a diary, if I had a typical bad day, I may be inclined to do so, taking solace in said diary which would never argue with me and always convince me I am right.
Speaking in public is opening yourself to criticism and comment, and I believe that, like the FOSS movement, my thoughts are best expressed not in their first incarnation, but after they have been qualified and critiqued by a third party. Whether or not that third party is actually commenting is irrelevant -- what is is that I am writing while expecting and welcoming opinion.
In plain language, it keeps me on my toes.
Recently I've been struggling with many Japan issues, and I haven't felt quite comfortable expressing them here -- in an English language format, for one -- and I've often felt my blog readers were, by and large, not in Japan. Site statistics support this argument.
Nonetheless, as an experiment, and to reduce my reluctance to post, I've decided to alter the scope of this blog. I will continue to write about international and personal issues - these are Japan-independent -- but I will also choose to write about Japan topics (in English). This marks the beginning of that initiative.
