A Gaijin's Life For Me

Posted on April 12, 2007 by Jude Coulter-Pultz

A fellow teacher asked me why I decided to come to live in Japan of all places, and I gave her my usual answer: I was suckered in by trashy manga and badly dubbed anime in high school and eventually discovered a hidden interest in more legitimate (i.e., respectable) Japanese culture. But thinking again about it now, I wonder if there isn't a less aesthetic, more psychological reason I find Japan so attractive.

It isn't exactly that living in Japan is more exciting than the life I'm accustomed to in America so much as it's the shiatsu massage my ego receives from what would otherwise be meaningless accomplishments. In this country where I'm about as literate as a first-grader and as capable of self-expression as a well-trained parakeet, learning how to say "fishing" or how to spell "vending machine" are major triumphs. I can pat myself on the back every time I write my address without making a mistake or get what I ordered from a restaurant.

On top of that, no matter how much I manage to completely foul up even the simplest sentence, no Japanese person can ever refuse the opportunity to congratulate me on my miraculous linguistic prowess. Not to mention that I'm earning a decent salary for playing games with children and having interesting conversations with adults in my own native language.

How could I go back to life in America at this point where I'd have to do more than function at an elementary-school level to feel productive; where the ability to read the newspaper is an expectation taken for granted, not a long-term dream? Why, I'd be forced to find self-worth in meaningful pursuits like starting an actual career or a family or making some kind of difference in the world. Living as a foreigner in Japan is like being a lightweight drinker. It doesn't take much to make me happy.