Friday, August 17, 2007

Purpose of Japan Dispatch

Purpose of this Blog
I am an American with deep ties to Japan's culture, language, and people, and I am interested in sharing my thoughts and impressions about my experiences in this blog. Those interested in learning my impressions about historical Japan, the Japanese language, and contemporary Japanese cultural and business practices should read on.

My goal in this blog is to provide the types of contextual and historical insights that could shed some light on today's Japan. At the same time, I will explore contemporary issues and trends (as I see them), mostly in the form of my own, personal experiences. I believe that history and the present are inextricably linked, each shedding light on the other.

In this blog, I will strive to be as honest as possible about my true thoughts and opinions about both the U.S. and Japan. I will not sugar coat my words in an effort to protect the feelings of Japanese nationals who may be sensitive to the occasional critique about their country. Nor will I refrain from making any necessasry critical comments or observations about my own country. Ultimately, my deep respect for the peoples of all countries of the world should be evident in my writings. I believe that open dialogue (or, in this case, monologue) is essential in a world where the avoidance of an open and honest look at the challenges we face stands in the way of our making progress.

My Relationship to Japan
I see myself as a rather passive observer of Japan and the Japanese, rather than a hardcore Japanophile. Over the past 20 years, I have strived to strike a balance between devotion to a continual and serious study of Japan on the one hand, while maintaining at the same time a firm sense of my own identity that is decidedly very much rooted in the U.S. culture. In other words, I am not one of those ex-pats who has "gone native" and tries to live, breathe, eat and sleep Japan all of the time. I am what I am: an interested observer, and sometimes participant, in both the Japanese culture and in my own.

I do have some significant first-hand experience with Japan. I majored in Japanese at UCLA from 1989-1993, moving to Eastern Japan to work as an English teacher in the junior high school system of Saitama Prefecture from 1994-1996. After numerous business trips to Japan in the ensuing years, I later returned with my wife and two children to work for Dell, Inc. from 2005-2007 as a marketing professional. Over the course of that stay, I lived in both the city of Kawasaki in Eastern Japan and in the city of Miyazaki on the southern island of Kyushu.

As for the language, after my studies at UCLA I went on to study Japanese intensively in Japan, passing in 1995 the first level (most difficult) of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). Since then, I have become fluent in written and spoken formal Japanese, often being mistaken for a native speaker after long telephone conversations with strangers. I have participated in hundreds of meetings, given university lectures and other group presentations, and written and received tens of thousands of e-mails relying solely upon my Japanese. Currently, I am co-translating a book about social systems design from English into Japanese.

And yet, with all of this experience with the Japanese language and culture, there is still so much to learn and so much that I will never be very knowledgeable about. For example, I know surprisingly little about Japanese food (to the dismay of my friends and colleagues in the U.S. who are always asking for recommendations at Japanese restaurants), despite what little has of course naturally seeped in through osmosis over the years. I also have forgotten most of the specific facts I learned at UCLA about the history of Japan, although a sitting with a good textbook would likely bring most of them back.

I remain fascinated with the Japanese language and am now challenging myself to eventually take the kantei, a series of exams aimed at testing the ability of kanji (Chinese characters) that mainly targets Japanese nationals. I also retain to this day a particular interest in Japanese Buddhism and Shintoism, as well as their complex relationship and interplay through the centuries.

I look forward to sharing this space with you and always welcome your comments as we proceed.

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