I am not very good at being Japanese.

My knowledge of the language is rudimentary. I often tell people that I speak like a third grader, and yet the reality is that I have only gotten to a third grade level after studying it daily since I was laid off in March.

I have only been to Japan once as an adult, to study abroad in the fall of 2010. I have never been back since, even though these days I certainly wish I could. And it is not like I am active in whatever small Japanese community exists here. I do not know Japanese history and culture as well as I should.

But it is still something which matters to me. Japan has its own history, its own language, its culture. Asia does not. There is no Asian history or language or culture.

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