Yep.

Sometimes i feel like a dork. Sometime's i don't want to proclaim my love for all some things Japanese, simply because i don't want to be That Person. You know, the one who's like, "OMG i watched InuYasha and DragonBall Z on TV, saw that geisha movie, and ate sushi once. I'm TOTALLY Japanese! I love Japan! I have to marry someone Japanese!" Yeah. Them. I see them. Totally don't want to be accused of being one of them.

But i do love a lot of Japanese things, and what i know of the culture, and people. I want to go there someday. I really do. I know you can't know everything about a place, or a culture through a filter, and without being there. But what i know fascinates me, and i'd like to see what it's like for myself sometime.

But like i said, i don't want feel like i'm That Person. "Oh, i watch anime, read some stuff, i really like Japan." Sometimes i wonder, though, what do i really know? What right do i have to say "OMG JAPAN ^_^" if i'm not from, or don't live, there? What makes me any different that some poseur kid that knows nothing, and doesn't want to know, who just thinks ONG AMINE IZ K3WL?

But i realized something tonight. How do i know what i know of Japan? How do i get my information, and know what kind of things i like about it? Well, i read blogs (tons of them, daily), some with news, some with tv clips, random articles, stories about festivals, daily events, strange goings-on, etc. I watch movies and tv shows, read books, watch anime (cartoons), read manga (comic books), listen to music....

And how do i know what i know of America? Well, i read blogs, i watch movies and tv shows, read books, watch cartoons, read comic books, listen to music.... It's not like i'm *~experiencing~* America in any significant way - sitting inside, or, when leaving the house, getting into a car, getting out, and immediatly going into a building - any differently. Any news i get about the US is from a couple of episodes of Daily Show a week, and leaving the radio on for a while after Coast To Coast AM is over, and seeing what people say online. Everything else is the same: tv, music, books... The only real difference is where the room i sit in, and the bed i sleep in, is located. Indoors here isn't whole lot different than anywhere else. Growing up somewhere makes a significant difference. Absolutely. But after that...

I realized that i'm learning about, and "experiencing", Japanese culture and things in exactly the same way that i do anything else, through popular media, news reports, and listening to people who live their life there every day. I know i'm no "expert", never will be, and will never claim to be. But it makes me feel better realizing what i've realized, and feeling like i'm interested in, and like, Japanese things just like anything else, and not *because* they're Japanese, but just because they are what they are.

I knew that, anyway... mostly... but i'm more sure about it now. I won't feel so bad talking about Japanese media and culture, worrying that i might be That Person.

Then again, who ever needed an excuse to like things from, or want to visit, a foreign country? ::shrug::


And i also just realized: I love when i have on AM radio and i can hear lightning crackling on it. I always have. I don't know why, but i do.