I Am the 2.4% (Of the 1.22%)

So much of the news of the last 2 1/2 years has felt like something out of a dream, stories or fantasies that only exist on the Internet or the occasional English-language newspaper that I pick up: nobody here talks about the obstructionism of the Republicans or the economic crisis in Europe, and if they did, I wouldn't understand a word of it.  Pretty much the last news to come out of America and land over here was the death of Michael Jackson, which they still can't stop talking about (I have 7-year-old students who can Moonwalk).  I have a small group of gaijin coworkers and friends, of course, but most of them hail from places other than America -- according to a reputable source, Americans make up just 2.4% of the gaijin population -- which certainly broadens the conversation, but I don't hear all that much about American politics.  My only political involvement here consists of talking about the Daily Show with my Canadian coworker and talking about the news with Jenn (which is awesome, though we do tend to read the same articles and blogs).

The last month has been a hard time to be so cut off from what's going on Stateside...If I weren't here in Japan, I would be Occupying Wall Street or any other available thoroughfare I could find.  I'll spare the blogosphere a rehash of the typical laundry list of middle class liberal complaints -- others have said it a lot better than I would be able to --

Click to enlarge enough to read the whole thing.  Seriously, do it, this is awesome.

--suffice to say that I think the OWS movement will be my generation's defining moment that will finally get the damn Boomers off our backs about getting off the couch and fighting the power already. I consider myself an ideological hippie through and through, but I've got enough of a pessimistic streak that I honestly never thought a movement like this would come along; I assumed that the only angry mobs I'd be seeing in the newspaper were Tea Partiers waving guns and complaining about how hard it is for white suburbanites in the richest country of the history of the world (I mean, think of the unreasonable burden of income taxes they're being made to pay!  No group on earth has ever been persecuted this way except for everyone in the history of fucking civilization.  *Ahem*  End digression.)

In fact, one thing that (perhaps unwisely) defuses my rage at the Man is the knowledge that, like the Tea Baggers, I am one privileged motherfucker.  Not the Man himself, perhaps, but one who has benefitted from His doings...a Manling, if you will, or a Manlet.  As a white, heterosexual male, I've never had to face discrimination based on my origins or appearance; I'm 100% free of debt; I've gotten an awesome liberal arts education and two degrees for free.  In short, what do I have to complain about?  I guess it's typically been the privileged folk spearheading revolutions in the past, from the landed slave-owners at the original Tea Party through to all of the non-privileged non-white participants in Second Wave Feminism who had to remind the most prominent members of their movement that they and their mothers had been in the workplace for generations out of necessity.  In any case, it's a bit of a schlep to Occupy KC or StL, so I'll do the absolute minimum for the cause and...talk about Japan? Sure.

Returning to the idea of privilege, I really think that I've traded one privilege for another by coming to Japan.  On the one hand, I'm comfortable here, treated very politely by one and all, safe from the scary job market in the States.  I'm afforded some special treatment: I don't have to work the ridiculous hours my Japanese coworkers do, and I don't have to pretend that I have no desires other than doing my job satisfactorily.  On the other hand...

...This is an ad for my school's Halloween Party.  The line at the bottom reads "Gaikokujin no sensei to asobou yo!"  Pretty much translates as: "Come and play with our foreigners!"  I'm a token here.  A novelty for my curly hair and skin tone.  Part of the "Gaijin Zoo," as a friend of mine puts it.

The thing is, I can live with it.  But then, I signed up to be here; people who are subjected to this kind of fetishization or disenfranchisement in the US (and they are many) are being done wrong.  I'm a minority here, with a lot of the attached negative baggage, but I get that special treatment, too.  Some gaijin here make it their life's mission to fight this kind of divisiveness, as previously mentioned.  More power to them (if that expression makes any sense under the circumstances) for fighting the good fight. I'm not invested enough in living in Japan to put too much of myself into changing this country, nor do I really feel like I have the right to as a temporary resident (though I did march in the Kansai Rainbow Parade last year).

As it is, I'm kind of struggling with what my responsibilities are as an expat.  Is it enough to send in an absentee ballot every couple of years?  Do I have a duty to try and make Japan better for guys like me, who tend to have it pretty great everywhere already?  Is there more I can be doing to thwart the plans of the Owners in the US from over here?

Aw, who am I kidding?  By next year the Republicans will make sure absentee (Democrat) ballots are trashed or prosecuted for voter fraud.