Saturday, Sept. 16^th

I didn’t realize it, but I’d started to take pride in my solitude in this city. I was the only gaijin I’d seen…ever, in a whole two weeks. Awesome, huh? Well, all this was destroyed on Wednesday, when Atsuko e-mails me, saying that there was an ALT in town who was having a very hard time, and that she wanted the other Trust School ALTs in Chikusei to meet him, and show some form of camaraderie.

Oh, great…now I gotta meet up with the other ALTs who have a huge chance of being Japanophiles or…otakus, or…old dudes who just couldn’t get dates in America. The illusion of me being the only gaijin for miles was being undone, and I didn’t like it.

Most people that move to Japan are apparently extroverts, who thrive on socialization, and start to feel drained when they move here and cannot communicate with the majority of the population. They go through very rough times, and are forced to face themselves more often than they’d like in a grueling state of introspection. Most people come out of this stronger, and wiser, and suddenly know that it is not the place that makes their lives, it is themselves.

Been there…done that.

I was always separated even in America, to the point that introspection is normal for me. The lack of human interaction in Japan has been like a fulfillment of all my training in America; finally, I don’t have to wonder why I feel distant from everyone else. I actually AM distant from everyone else! It’s been a huge burden off my shoulders, not having to fake as if I belong somewhere. I was alone, it made sense, and I enjoyed it. Sure, people looked at me funny, but now, for the most part, it was out of genuine curiosity rather than out of possible disdain. I had no history with these people that we had to see past, there were no walls to break through. Our relationship is what it is, was what it was. I’m a black man in Japan, and they ain’t used to it. The whole situation was extremely calming.

So now I gotta go talk to a bunch of folks who do nothing but damage my calm? …Yeah, that’s fun.

We met at Shimodate Station, where I, for once, was the first one there. It was there I met Andrew, the guy from NY who was having such a horrible time. At first, I was a bit skeptical, thinking he was whining about not having enough clubs to go to, but when I heard his story…I couldn’t help but feel for the dude.

Andrew had apparently been in Asia for a while, and even got married to some Filipino girl. Eventually, he found out that this girl was using him for his passport and divorced her. Shortly afterward, he applied for Trust School, and was accepted. But, during a stay at a hotel during his trip to Japan, 500 dollars was stolen from him, totally ruining his savings, which are crucial to the world of ALTs for the first six weeks or so. But, he still made it to Japan, and stumbled into the Trust School office, weary, but ready. It was then that he was informed of some bad news. You see, before he left for Japan, he was told he’d be in a major city. Being from NY, that appealed to him, but…later on, they decided to bump him over to Nasu, a ski resort kind of place. Andrew loved skiing, so he was willing to bend a bit. This was the information with which he flew to Japan. Little did he know that when he arrived, the Trust School had decided to relocate him yet again, to a place in the rice fields just east of my Boondocks School. There, there were no people, no internet cafes, and lo and behold, they didn’t even grant him a car, when his schools were just as far away as mine. According to Andrew, the workers of Trust School seemed to snicker when they gave him the news.

“Atsuko’s hot, though…so I couldn’t be too mad when she told me the news,” said Andrew. I was starting to understand why they had hired her.

Soon after, Scott and Will showed up. Scott was half Chinese, half Filipino, which only meant one big ol’ bowl of hate from the Japanese. He was of “lesser Asian decent”, and man…they never outright said they hated him or even eyed him strangely, but you could feel it. Or at least I could—I’ve been trained in sniffing out those emotions. Will was from Florida too, and the two of us bonded over stories of how crappy the orange juice was here, how northerners really needed to stop whining about the humidity and hot weather, and how no one understood that Japanese cockroaches really didn’t have the brains and frightening wit of a Floridian cockroach, or palmetto bug.

Scott and Will had been in Japan since March, and were the ones who escorted Andrew and I around Chikusei, showing us a few things, and providing Andrew with food options other than peanut butter and jelly…and buttered rice. Eventually, we met up with a bunch of other ALTs from other countries…England, Canada, and New Zealand. It was here that I almost killed some people.

Again, I do not feel American here. But, oh, were these kids quick to lump me in with Americans. It was like they were waiting to bring up politics just to rub it in our faces. I don’t even believe in politics…seriously…and I was getting genuinely pissed off at these folks. Everyone there was apparently a smoker, of various substances and—it just…I had hoped that meeting people from other countries would show me that pettiness was just a result of the American situation. And even though half of me knew better, it still hurt to find out I was wrong. People are merely people. And because of that, I could not hold this against them.

I shut off all anger—or maybe it was drinking a few beers without eating much that day—and decided to be silly. Barbs of sarcasm seemed to slip out, though, from time to time. Scott and I were cool, though. We’d joke around about our own stereotypes, and I’d show him how I was pretty much a superhero in this country. Kids ran up to me, women smiled at me, men shook my hand.

We all went to dinner, and I randomly made friends with another table, and I taught a bunch of kids about daps, and…well, I had my own brand of fun. After all was said and done, I drove home and collapsed in my bed.

Do I feel better now that I’m not the only gaijin in Chikusei? No. Do I wish I’d never met these folks? Ehhhh…Will, Andrew and Scott were cool, and can help me later in life.

I still don’t like my introversion being invaded. That…may never change.

D