If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

At an elementary school I taught at here in Osaka, there was a lot of time to go until the start of my first lesson so the deputy head teacher showed me around the school poking in at every clasroom to show me what they were up to.

It was very interesting. Some were chanting facts and figures in a bid to remember them, others were engaging in calligraphy and some were giving group presentations.

In one of the calligraphy classes, there was a kid with a Malaysian mother and an American father. His appearance except for his dark black hair, was that of a Westerner and though hesitantly and with a slight accent, he spoke English well enough. In an attempt to fit in, he was sporting the Japanese national football shirt.

I asked two questions in English which I`m not very proud of now. The first one was, “Can you speak Japanese well?” The answer was of course yes as the second question`s answer revealed, “Where are you from in America?” “I was born in Japan.” Oh.

Though the kid showed no signs of bullying (perhaps a long term panda effect?) it was clear from the T-shirt that he was trying hard to fit in.

I recently read an article in Kansai Time Out magazine`s October edition - a magazine targeted at long term residents of Kansai and wannabes like myself. There are two interviews with foreign looking natives. One Western and one Korean and they are born and bred in Japan with varying degrees of success. From the Westerner growing up in Japan:

The only cultural difficulty I had growing up was feeling like I wasn`t quite enough of either culture. Japanese people would (and still do) comment on how good my Japanese is and I have to remind them that I am Japanese, which throws them off because they will never perceive me as being one of them

Technorati Tags: Japan, Osaka, Asia, Quaisi, Kansai, Expat, English