identity, here and there

As I strolled down the street of Kumamoto City this morning after a night out with friends and some good Indian tea for breakfast I realized something that I had realized before, but more pressingly this time. I realized that my identity here on the streets of this Japanese city is almost absolutely affected by the fact that I am caucasian. Many of the things I see as making me who I am don't appear on the radar screen of most of the people here. They see the generic things about me (and maybe they also notice my keen sense of style and my handsome swagger). They certainly notice my glasses. So here I become to the society something very much smaller and different than the person I am used to seeing myself as.

On the other hand the identity perceived by self as opposed to the identity perceived by others (particularly if those others are not close to you) is almost always substantially different, even if you are in your home town. But a much greater degree of the subtleties of your personality and uniqueness are lost to people who don't know your culture. The upside is that I get to be a really cool, special, foreign teacher to a bunch of awesome, happy kids. And that I get to be so different is also pretty interesting (you never go unnoticed, that is for sure).