Questions

"A frog in the well does not know the sea."
~Japanese Proverb

My sister Cari, a fourth grade teacher, recently asked me to visit her class so that I could tell them about Japan. They were reading a story about a man from Japan and Cari had mentioned that her kid brother was soon departing for the Land of the Rising Sun. I wrote all their names in Japanese and talked about my experiences with the Japanese language and culture. Afterwards they asked me questions ranging from how long it takes someone to learn Japanese to whether you could put water in the Japanese vase I brought. But one of their questions gave me pause.

"What first made you interested in Japan?"

This is a question without a real answer. Samurai warriors? Japanese cartoons? Answers end in periods to denote surety; my answers were questions.

But questions are what dominate my thoughts the week before my departure. What will it be like over there? Is my Japanese good enough for me to even survive day to day? What will my job and students be like? What will it be like to be a minority? But I think about one question more than all others.

What's the martial arts situation in Nara?

I love kung fu, but I doubt I'm going to find a traditional teacher in Japan. . . since the Chinese hate the Japanese. Aikido is interesting but the Nara schools I've found online sound like they're run by Japanese hippies. I think I should probably be more worried about those other things I was talking about, but for some reason my image of living in Japan is decidedly positive, I don't feel as though I will have too many problems one way or another.