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Ya, as much as you think you are some rebel you are not, and it's funny you chose a culture/country where conformity is paramount.
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Some rebel? I have no idea where you are getting that from. I am being myself. I am not trying to "fit in". I don`t see that making me any more a rebel than anyone else who is being themselves? I`m not a particularly rebellious person - never have been. Should I change and be someone I am not just to fit in with
your image of what foreigners in Japan are like?
I think you missed out that I didn`t say I had a
passion - I just didn`t freaking hate Japan. It seems that in your world there is only one extreme or the other.
I came to Japan during high school. Yes I was interested in the country. I don`t recall ever saying anything to the opposite of that. Obviously I didn`t just magically appear in the country out of the blue.
The point is - I am who I am. My experience is my personal experience. I didn`t go out of my way to "fit in". I did what I was comfortable doing and did not do what I was uncomfortable with. I followed the guide of mt peers, who *shock and awe* were Japanese. Because, in case you missed my multiple references, a fair chunk of my schooling was done in Japan in normal Japanese schools.
I suppose if you want to nitpick and say that I "tried to fit in" because I wasn`t running about making sure I was a social outcast - then sure, go ahead. But you`re going to have to say the same thing about ANYONE who has ever been in a school and wanted to have friends.
Doing what everyone else does is not what I was talking about. I was pointing out that there are people out there who go well over and beyond what other people do for the sake of fitting in... And end up totally overshooting the mark - often without even realizing it.
In regard to the other post you seem to be wanting to bring up as some evidence that I`m not who I represent myself as... It seems that you would understand the concept of wanting to experience new things being as you said the same thing about yourself and I pointed out that it was NOT what I was talking about. Trying things is one thing - doing it (and taking it to an extreme) because you think it is going to make you fit in is something entirely different.
All the students in the school took a "traditional culture" class once a month. Did I not opt out of it or think it was the "stupidest thing ever" because I wasn`t Japanese? Nope. I took the classes with everyone else. But I didn`t go on and on that they were the greatest thing ever and so "Japanese", look at me I love Japan, etc etc etc.
I tried things with my peers, most of them also trying things for the first time because the average Japanese person doesn`t do all that much traditional stuff.
But I guess you just want to think that I ran around bowing to "superior" Japanese in some hope that they`ll think I`m worthy of their time and attention, so I don`t really know why I bother replying. Apparently it is completely unthinkable that someone had a different experience than you.
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Well point to the part where she says that she is normal while the guy wearing the yukata is trying to fit in?
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I think that Gahzirra missed a few posts there.
To quote myself -
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What is NOT normal is rejecting anything that is not traditional, and taking it beyond an interest. As I said, there are people who feel that it is necessary to fit in. Their interest isn`t in the traditional art, but in the fact that it is something, anything, Japanese and not western.
I have never made, nor seen anyone (Japanese or foreign) make negative comments about someone who has an honest interest in some traditional art - even if they dedicate their life to it. The opposite, in fact - they`re given respect regardless of background.
But there is a difference between those people and the kind who reject anything western and who think Japanese culture is in danger of disappearing.
It isn`t necessary to learn some traditional art in order to "fit in". It would be kind of like saying that someone couldn`t fit in, say, in the US unless they could recite the constitution. Normal people do not do that. If you`re a scholar who studies the constitution, that is one thing - but if you spout the joys of American life and quote the constitution or Declaration of Independence at every turn... People are going to give you weird looks. Even in a place with as much variety as the US.
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