As a child, peaking in frequency when I was nine or ten, I’d sometimes unsolicitedly praise Japan to my mother, feeling satisfaction whenever, at my insistence, she’d agree with me that Japan was better than other countries. I liked Japan, when I was eight or nine, probably simply because I liked comfort and entertainment and convenience. Later, when I was twelve to fourteen, I began to view Japan, or my idea of Japan, as the ideal country, in terms of birthplace and lifelong residence, for someone like myself, to whom most people, especially classmates, seemed incomprehensible and violent; who viewed failure in a social or romantic situation as a clear and welcome message, for at least one person, in one situation, to resign; and who suspected resignation to be what finally all people, taking into account a long enough time frame, would want. But, through high school and college, it became increasingly difficult to enjoy doing things alone, because I’d also feel lonely, depressed, worried about the future. Resignation, which had once felt almost triumphant, became associated, as it was, I think, in the culture I lived in, with defeat. – Tao Lin on preconceptions of Japan, from Granta 127.
Posted on: Mon, 16 Jun 2014 12:23:24 +0000
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