Today some fearless internet warrior who goes by the name "anonymous" left a comment to the effect that he didn't like my approach to being a foreigner in Japan. He went further by comparing me to a Chinese peasant and asked if I spat on the platform. (No, I didn't spit on it like a Chinese peasant nor did I urinate on it like a Japanese salaryman)
OK, whatever, it's not like I actually give a fuck what he thinks but some of the things he said confirm that he missed the point I was making by a spectacular margin. So for people just like "anonymous" here it is in plain language.
Life anywhere is full of pros and cons. Being a foreigner in Japan carries with it a lot of negatives. On the other hand there are some positives. If you don't take advantage of the positives you will end up with a life where the negative outweighs everything else. Being a foreigner here means you do not have to conform with a lot of the pointless rules and bullshit conventions that the Japanese have to. They don't expect you to. And that's the point. You can pick and choose which ones work for you and just ignore those that you don't like. That way you have a counterbalance to all the disadvantages and discrimination that you will encounter here. And to my friend "anonymous", the word is "stereotypical" not "prototypical". I do hope you weren't teaching English when you lived here.
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