So a friend of mine showed me this post about “I hate Japan some more.” The writer lives in Japan and teaches classes there. He has found a new reason to hate Japan, and I do not care for it or him. If you hate what you’re doing, who’s forcing you to do it? No one forces me to like Japan. I do it because I care, because I prefer to be motivated by positive emotions instead of negative ones, and because I am not a jerk.

Part of this guy’s rant is that he doesn’t see the point of getting kids to identify goals for later in life. “Let kids be kids.” No, let kids be students. Without goals it’s hard to motivate yourself to do something truly difficult, like learn Japanese right after leaving high school and sticking with it through thick and thin for years. As for America not being concerned about scores and grades… ever heard of No Child Left Behind?

As for Japan being restricted and constrained, yes, it is. Real life isn’t 100% like anime. Why would it be? Anime is fantasy. People wouldn’t fantasize about freedom of action if there weren’t constraints. Deal. We exist in the real world, and we should have what fun in it that we can while not forgetting that it is real. – J