My old friend, Nan the blogless Porkchop, is flying out to visit me in the Land of the Rising Sun; she lands on Monday afternoon. I'll be picking her up at Nagoya Airport (Centrair) at approximately 2:50, whereupon I shall bid her welcome using this phrase: "Let's go get naked." There's nothing better than hopping into a Japanese communal bath with complete strangers and a high school friend you never even had to see naked at gym class after an 18-hour journey.
Our schedule is loosely as follows: Week number 1, allow the Porkchop to wander aimlessly around the streets of Nagoya while I work. Week number 2, Yokoso Tour a la Cynic: 1 night in Tokyo, 1 night in Kyoto, 1 night in Osaka. My biggest difficulty will be trying to allow Nan to form her own opinion of the country and its people. I must admit, the longer I stay here the more disheartened I become with the place.
After Obama was elected the first educated president in 8 years (Ha! You thought I was going to say "first black president", didn't you?), I decided to discuss the President Elect with my high-level, adult English students. They seemed appalled at the notion that some Americans would oppose Mr. Obama's leadership based solely on the color of his skin. Admirable, you might think; but this is coming from the same group of students who once told me they didn't trust "the Chinese", and continually marvel over the fact that I'm able to use chopsticks and eat sushi.
But just like not every American is a member of the KKK, not every Frenchman is gay, and not every Englishman has bad teeth (really?) ...not all Japanese people are naive bigots who teach their children to hate China and hope North Korea is blown up by America.
Plus, Japanese food is effing delicious.
