Saturday, February 5, 2011

down with it (2)





I give up.

However hard you try to keep yourself in good spirits and show goodwill towards people here, you're constantly butting heads with this unassailable wall of narrow-mindedness and aloofness.

You write to a non-Japanese friend or colleague asking a favour and s/he promptly and gracefully responds, no matter how eminent or busy s/he is. You expect the same of a Japanese colleague or... er... 'friend' - and s/he couldn't care less.

These cultural and psychological differences are so immensely, so sadly revealing.

What damn moronic society is this that brainwashes people into believing that to show themselves aloof, unavailable and unresponsive to others is some kind of manly virtue or a sign of moral superiority...?

Rock bottom indeed.

But, well, you live and learn...


(Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28749138@N00/321328912/)

1 comment:

António Rebordão said...

Estou a escrever de um teclado radioactivo, dai a falta de acentuacao.

Estar no Japao tem um principio e um fim. Ter consciencia de que o fim tem de vir e' doloroso mas parte da experiencia. O que se quer e' que o tempo no Japao tenha bons momentos, que algumas das coisas boas se tornem parte de nos e nos engrandencam como pessoas. A life changing experience. Aproveita cada momento e quando chegar a hora, muda e da' continuidade 'a saga. Outras experiencias te esperam...