February 22, 2005
I Think I'm Turning Japanese ...
You knew it would happen sometime. Every Japan blogger in the universe has used that cheesy song (whatever it was) at some point.
Current indications:
- I talk to myself about the weather. Repeating the word "寒い" (cold) as quickly and as many times as possible in one breath is somehow meant to clarify a fact that everyone already knows.
- I begin to wonder when the train is more than a minute late. In Boston, there is no such thing even as a schedule. The train comes "when it comes."
- Heated toilet seats have become not a luxury but a fact of life.
- For me a meal without rice is not, in fact, a meal at all.
- Saying "no thank you" is an exercise in extreme confusion by both parties.
- I can bow while walking, running, biking, and talking on the phone.
- Ramen is not a $0.15 grocery store item for college students ... it's a delectable feast.
- I know myself as Jiya-soo-teen Na-row-kee (ジャスティンナロキ) rather than Justin Nawrocki.
- I have learned the term "アメ車" (amesha) and use it with glee. It is a shortening of "amerikasha" which means "american car" which in turn is slang for "sucky and inefficient."
- I see other foreigners on the train and can't help but stare.