Japanese Disneyland
Already : Hatachi Archives
Japanese Disneyland Wednesday September 12
I met a British gentleman yesterday who has been in Japan for approximately 17 years. For my job, I often meet these so-called "lifers" who, for one reason or another, have committed to living (and dying) in Japan.
The first time he went to Osaka, he hated it, he said. The second time, he also hated it. Then, the third time, he got married. Add seventeen years. I had to laugh a little at that; I am well-familiar with the slightly self-deprecating attitude taken by many Westerns who have, adopting Japanese culture even in English, chosen to live in this society. It's never as bad as they make it sound, but it's not necessarily good, either.
This gentleman said one of the best things I think I've ever heard to describe Japan, though, so I thought I would share it. He felt that Japan is like Disneyland: everything is clean, sparkly, interesting to look at. Behind the scenes somewhere, it's actually much dirtier, but there's no reason to show that. Moreover, and here was the best part -- when Japanese people go abroad for vacation, it's almost as if they are entering "a different land" in Disneyland. It's as if the United States was Country Town USA, and then you suddenly walked into the Arabian Nights land.
Japanese people never really "leave the theme park" when they are overseas. They're just in a different "land".
Of course, this is excepting those who live overseas for a long time: long enough, and you'll probably start to see Japan Disneyland as it is: a themepark in the middle of the rest of the world where other things are happening. Once you have that perspective, you're less likely to want to stay here: it starts to feel small and confining.
That's exactly where Yuiko is. She told me the other day she finds it "hard to breathe" in Japan. It's her home country; her family lives here. What would cause her to say such a thing?
Anyway, I don't have a concrete point here. I just wanted to get this down on the blog before I forgot about it.
