So one of the strange, or at least unexpected, things about how this blog has turned out is that nearly all the readers are international. I do get some readers from the US, but they are actually something of a rarity. I appreciate that. It also feels like a responsibility,
Probably one of the most frequent questions that’s never been asked of me, but probably would be if people felt comfortable asking me questions, would be “what’s it like living in Texas”? Well, specifically for my foreign friends, let me answer that question. Texas is big. I mean really big.
America (the United States) is, generally, a very patriotic country. We don’t have very many symbols. We have a flag. We have a national anthem. We have a constitution, a declaration of independence, and a few other important symbols. Generally, we tend to be pretty proud of those symbols, as
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that I’m no fan of Democrats. Honestly, I’m being very nice when I say that. I’m no fan of Democrats in the same way I’m no fan of dirty diapers, and much for the same reason. So I’m not really going to go
I watched an interesting thing on YouTube about the history of Japan on my lunch break today, and in doing so, I discovered something really interesting. It was Americans that kind of forced Japan’s hand and caused them to open up after several centuries of self imposed isolation. Japan has
I think every country has something I call “cultural neuroses” – or at least I started to about twenty seconds ago. Something in the culture that lives deep inside the cultural zeitgeist and underlies invisible assumptions that a culture makes. In my opinion, this is one of the primary reasons to
A part of me feels like I’ve been a bit hard on Japan. I take back nothing, honestly. There is a darkness that runs through their society, and it is a little jarring when contrasted with the beauty of their culture. I am not comfortable with that, honestly. But then