Dinner with a U.S. Diplomat

Aomori JETs with U.S. diplomat, Richard Mei (fifth person from left)

A couple weeks ago in early February, a small group of JET participants and I had the pleasure of meeting and having dinner with U.S. diplomat, Richard Mei. He is currently working for the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo as the Cultural Affairs Officer there, and was in Aomori for a couple days sightseeing. 

He had contacted our supervisor in advance to set up the dinner with us; he enjoys meeting JET participants and makes an effort to do so whenever possible. As such, he has met many JET’s all throughout Japan, but this particular trip was quite special for him--Aomori was the only prefecture that he had not yet visited until this trip (and keep in mind that there are 47 prefectures in Japan!).

Mr. Mei is a friendly, laid-back guy with lots of experience working in international relations. His job focuses on making and improving relations between Japan and the U.S. through various avenues. During our conversation with him, he described how he does this by promoting exchange programs for students and teachers, organizing art and other cultural programs, etc. It sounds like a fun job with new things happening all the time.

During the dinner he let us ask questions about lots of topics and it was really interesting. He talked about his past and how he ended up at his job. He described how it could be a good career path for some of us, as well as the advantages and disadvantages that come with working in the embassy. People with excellent knowledge of world politics and news is one of the most essential skills for this career, so it probably not something I would thrive doing. Yet I really enjoyed the dinner and loved hearing about his experiences. He has some funny stories too and isn't afraid to be himself. I hope I'll run into him again sometime in the future!

A Brief Reflection on Cultural Understanding in Japan

Recently I had a conversation with two Japanese friends regarding some of my frustrations that I often encounter here. Before heading to bed, it seems worthwhile to record some of my main thoughts on the topic. Surely, most people can recognize that living in a foreign country will expose oneself to cultural differences; needless to say it's to be expected. But learning how to embrace this can be a challenge at times.

I like to think I am an easy-going person and adaptable to any environment I experience. After living in Japan for two years and avoiding any significant issues, I like to think that's true. Yet I do have periods in which small frustrations grow from frequent occurrences, resulting in arguably unnecessary bouts of complaining.

Prior to my conversation with my friends, I had complained about or questioned numerous things: how seemingly difficult it is for Japanese to be direct about their feelings/intentions, why Japanese are seemingly so inflexible about old policies or seemingly unwilling to 'think outside the box', etc. My purpose here is not to criticize these cultural observations but rather to take a step back from my own perceptions of what is wrong or right. Everyone will most certainly always have criticisms and disagreements with the way things are done in certain situations or contexts. But there is always the choice to accept some level of understanding or at least keep such criticisms to oneself. Today I was reminded of this choice because I had let my frustrations get the better of me.

And that's really what this quick reflection is about here--knowing that moments like these remind me that while I am living in a very different country I must sustain a highly flexible mentality about societies' behaviors and cultural norms. It just doesn't do anyone any good to criticize the culture in a country which I chose to live in. I'll do my best going forward again.