Are Foreign Language Speakers Destined to Be Outsiders?
Being derided as a “Westernized critic”
My English skills have made my life both blissful and miserable. I was the happiest bilingual when I finally met my soulmate at an American college. Without English, I couldn’t have found him let alone many of my friends and job opportunities.
On the other hand, I regularly find myself in abysmal depression because of my second language. After devouring American news and entertainment over the past decades, my way of thinking is heavily influenced by capitalism, feminism, and individualism.
I’m not able to fit into the typical Japanese companies. Being surrounded by older male Japanese managers makes me queasy because they tend to evaluate their colleagues and subordinates solely based on age and gender, not capabilities or expertise.
And I’m not the right person to teach my child patience, which is undoubtedly critical to survive in Japanese society. An old Japanese saying goes “ishi no ue nimo san-nen (perseverance wins because sitting on a stone for three years makes it comfortable),” but I would rather crush the stone and build a home within a month.
I always struggle to tame my wanderlust, and I can’t stop imagining my life in a different country. It makes me feel like being…
