This may come as a surprise to you, my lovely readers, but my Japanese friends are mostly in their 40s or older. Those of you that have read my earlier posts would know that I have a rather narrow definition of friend, as I’ve talked about it in once or twice before. For those of you who don’t know, the short version is people I only hang out with a few times aren’t friends to me; they’re acquaintances. So, I tend to have a ton of younger acquaintances, but none of them ever develop into friendships. I wouldn’t say this is an active choice on my part so much as a natural consequence of my preferences. If I’m meeting someone regularly, I prefer to do activities indoors that don’t take a lot of energy. This comes from my porphyria and lupus, which I’ve written a bit about previously (feel free to hit up my post archives). The majority of younger Japanese people that I meet tend to want to go out and be active in a way that I can’t keep up with. On the other hand, Japanese people who are older are more inclined toward subdued outings.

My lower energy levels and strict definitions of friendship lead to most of the people I become friends with being on the older end of the spectrum. I personally don’t mind, and I feel like it has had several positive effects on my life to have these friendships. I’ve learned a lot from talking to them about life, and they’ve also exposed me to experiences that I would never have had otherwise. From one of my friends, I learned of several illumination spots and about some local festivals and Japanese traditions. My longest friendship is with a Japanese man who’s currently approaching his sixties. Every time we meet, we talk about his health and how he’s working very hard to keep himself healthy even as his age catches up to him. We also talk about my life, all while relaxing indoors and enjoying food together. We have a routine and a regular pattern of meeting that works out well for my energy levels. These types of outings are typical between me and my friends. They usually happen every one to three months, depending on schedules. The fact my energy levels match with older people is one of the reasons I call myself an old man. Do you have anything that makes you feel old?