There is a British comedy show called Little Britain. In it a gay man in a small village in Wales is sad that there are no other gays in the village he lives in. The joke is that there are hundreds but he chooses to avoid them.
Reiko has been telling me that I think I’m the only gaijin in the village. And I guess she’s got a point. I moan at the way things are done here. That I’m the only one who can see it and how to fix it. In fact I like thinking I’m the only one who sees it and is able to fix it when there are other gaijin where I live. May I dare say hundreds?
Bill Bryson once wrote that being an American in England he was defined as an American. When he went back to America, he joined the 300,000,000 other Americans and lost that part of him. Do I secretly cherish my gaijin status?
I sometimes think i was the only gaijin who didnt care about my gaijin status when living in Japan (Osaka too), i ended up just sticking with the Japanese girls in my course (i was the only nonJapanese there) because i was sick and tired of the whinging and bitching i had to listen too from all the other gaijin.
Dont get me wrong, i am not bagging YOU out, i think you are in a different situation again to most of us, i certainly wasnt married with a baby – i had an end date (that i dreaded to be honest, i want to come back).
yep, I think you do secretly feel special and you are as am I.The second takes, distrusting looks of many men and small smiles from the ladies, looks of [seems like] awe from small children and warm grins from on to it oba chans .Am touring Japan in a camping “car” with my Japanese wife, don’t start about navagation will you !.
Pete.
All expats, anywhere in the world, feel like this I think. I’ve lived overseas (outside of the UK) most of my life. When I lived in Malaysia, it was obvious I was a foreigner, but in Australia it was less obvious. I found myself trying to make myself more foreign so that I was that bit more special.
I’ve been living in the UK for the past two years and rather than acting more Australian or more Malaysian, I find myself acting more North London because I live in South London and my family’s from North of the river.
Anything to feel special! Haha.