{"id":8999,"date":"2011-06-14T13:08:08","date_gmt":"2011-06-14T04:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=8999"},"modified":"2011-06-14T22:01:11","modified_gmt":"2011-06-14T13:01:11","slug":"donald-keene-prattles-on-about-why-hes-naturalizing-in-sapio-even-takes-a-cheap-shot-at-nj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=8999","title":{"rendered":"Donald Keene prattles on about why he’s naturalizing in SAPIO, even takes a cheap shot at NJ"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hi Blog.\u00a0 Here we have\u00a0Donald Keene, our newest\u00a0future Japanese\u00a0naturalized citizen at age 88<\/a>,\u00a0prattling on in Sapio about how nice and wonderful Japanese society and culture is (citing things that happened a generation or two ago), and how he’s happy to become part of a culture so rich and able to regenerate itself after the tsunami\u00a0(despite, he laments, the lack of domestic interest in Japanese culture by Japanese people; clearly in Donald’s world, culture makes the man).<\/p>\n

This is all excusable as harmless\u00a0personal preference and geriatric navel-gazing\u00a0except, at the bottom of the first page,\u00a0his cheap and ignorant\u00a0swipe at non-Japanese (who, allegedly after coming here to make money, flee in the face of danger).\u00a0 Perhaps if he had had the same stake as younger\u00a0people who live here full-time and languish in less elite jobs, he might understand better why some people didn’t stay in Japan, as I argued in\u00a0this Japan Times column<\/a>.\u00a0 No matter.\u00a0 (Oh, and we won’t deal with ongoing events and lies\u00a0from\u00a0Fukushima; criticism of Japan would annoy Donald’s hosts and spoil the Sapio article.)<\/p>\n

I guess it just goes to show you that grumpy old men regardless of nationality have to latch onto the “good old days” somewhere; fortunately our Donald feels like he has a culture and a circle of friends here that encourage that.\u00a0 Enjoy yourself here,\u00a0Donald.\u00a0 Just don’t bad-mouth other people who are also coming here and trying to make a life, even if eventually they decide that there are greener pastures and fairer opportunities\u00a0elsewhere.\u00a0 At 88, you won’t have to endure Japan’s non-academic workplace culture, let alone\u00a0be on this mortal coil long enough, for any denouement.\u00a0 Arudou Debito<\/p>\n