Jeff at Sushicam linked today to a really cool Japan blog, A Year or so in Japan by a woman named Joanne. She is clever, insightful, and funny, and I’ve been enjoying perusing her archives today. Needless to say, she has been blogrolled.
Here is a link to the laugh-out-loud post Jeff refers to. It is absolutely fabulous. A quote:
I saw that my interest was not infactuation but fascination. The way a woman looks at a beautiful drag queen. Half in amazement and half in jealousy for such a outlandish sense of style and the confidence to carry it off. But even that has worn off for me. The coolness, the look that they woke up in their penthouse apartment, threw on a suit and loafers and I only happened to catch sight of them on the street or subway because they were between a rock and roll board meeting, a dinner date and a manicure appointment. The reality is different. They are kept men. Kept by their mothers.
This is not the best part. You have to read it.
On the other end of the spectrum (or, rather, on a completely different spectrum), here’s a post about typical work life for men and women in Japan.
Everything here is prim and proper, especially on the outside. A laugh, a smile and apologizing are all done at appropriate times. People don’t complain, they endure. Unless they are men. Men here, for some reason, function comfortably outside all the rules of etiquette.
I highly recommend this one, too. Eye-opening, insightful, and clever.