Thursday, September 15, 2005
Passions
I want a life. And so I pondered the other day, just how to go about it. Being Mister Mediocre is not easy; I have no scene. If Rocco turned up here, he'd be on the Salsa circuit and socialising within minutes. He'd slide back into life so comfortably. So, for a couple of days, I thought it would be great to actually have a scene, an interest, which you simply took with you wherever you went.
But today, I think I have a scene. Meeting people? That'll happen, in time. Historically, i've never had a shortage of people that want to drink beer with me, so no reason to fear leaving Japan without touching another soul. Which means I don't try to contrive a pastime that is overtly social. This is lucky because practically everything I enjoy doing does not involve contact with other people. It's not that I don't like people - I find them fascinating. To study, rather than to involve myself with.
It's all about passion, and now I have a item that confuses me. Generally speaking, platonically or not, we people that are passionate themselves, and have a desire to live life. We rarely initiate a meeting with someone by asking about their scarred wrists. So, now we have Otaku. In Japan, the word Otaku is a reference to the home. It has now developed into a proper noun for people who stay at home. There pastimes and hobbies span playing computer games, building models, surfing the internet and more. So why aren't Otaku heralded as fabulously cool and glorified as upper members of society? Because they generally lack the verbal interactivity needed to rise like oil above water. I use this example because I feel like clean, pure water suffocated by opaque, horrid oil.
Right now the phrase Otaku is all the rage in Japan, after a TV series documents the life of one, and his ascension to being accepted in the eyes of the opposite sex. It all started out when a kid name Densha Otoko was travelling home on the Tokyo Metro, and saved a fair maiden from a drunken lout. He got her email address. And walked home with diamonds on the soles of his shoes, feeling luckier, prouder and more complete than a mother who just delivered. What now? He didn't know. And so he thought, pondered, and eventually worried. Why would she want him? Before fear consumed and soured his lust, he posted a message on the internet. For help. To a bulletin board for Otaku like him. For once, there was no sarcasm or condescension. Hundreds of people got together and mailed him with advice, lines, stories of success. And most of all, they patched him with enough encouragement and strength to email her.
The most eagerly awaited reply since the Earth found out Who Shot JR arrived. It actually did.
And so he was back to square one and one half. What now? He reposted for help on the bulletin board, and the help once more arrived. The cycle continued, with the visitors to the board hanging on every emotion in their early relationship. Slowly, a dialogue developed, and edged him toward crunchtime. He would have to ask her out. And he did. And she found a soul of true love and passion.
This story is supposed to be true. What confused me was the oil/water problem, which after writing this, became klar.
The factual, less emotional story can be found flooding from font of all knowledge.
Other news: Somebody has just guessed my age based on the assumption that I attended school 25 years ago. He will not be getting any kudos from the pot of D'Souza.
Smashing a Myth: Japan is not expensive. If you think that it is, you have not been here in the last few years. St. Clemens with a twist. Many have heard stories of $500 melons and $10 apples. But those days have long since deflated away, and now prices are more reasonable. My only remaining question is: who was creaming off the profits, back in the day? It wasn't the taxman.
In all, I get the impression that Japan is no more expensive than Europe. Todd said something I did not understand the other day. He said he wanted to move to Singapore instead of Japan because it was cheaper. But you earn almost twice as much in Japan (lower tax), and the cost of living is only 1.3x higher. Which to me, makes Japan 35% cheaper. I am writing this down, because I hope to understand what he was talking about in a couple of years. I think I am right, because by my calculations, London turns out to be one of the cheapest place in the world to live.
A Thought: I can't understand why so many girls want to get married and make babies before 30. It appears to be a mental age limit which they have ingrained into themselves. Beyond this point in their life, they are convinced that the narcissistic concept of having shrunken, and hence cute, versions of their own genetic mutation run around a suburban semi detached house is compromised. Perhaps the need is drawn from over concern about their own beauty fading, spawning the hope to refresh it by propogation.
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