K: So, lately I’ve been thinking about what it means to be an immigrant and moving (coughs) sorry. And moving to Japan. And I also want to say I’m in the middle of going through dental… reconstructive surgery on my mouth, and I’m in a lupus flare. So, if my voice sounds a little bit weird – because it sounds weird to me – it’s because my sinuses are being affected, and the airflow in my mouth is being affected. And the way I can move my mouth is being affected, so sorry if that’s distracting to anyone, and after I’m on the other side of the process, we’ll talk about it on the podcast, but that’s not the topic for today. The topic for today is being an immigrant. 

C: Okay.

K: (laughs)

C: Well, I’m going to keep being an immigrant whether or not that’s the topic, so it’s a good topic. 

K: Yeah. So, we talked about, before, the difference… the difference in my views on immigration since becoming an immigrant and before being an immigrant on things like language learning and how to eke out… a living and all of that. And I think that… there are privileged immigrants and underprivileged immigrants, and I am absolutely a privileged immigrant because I have… a degree. And an education. And you have a degree and education. Your degree let us come over here and work. And, before your degree, I was able to come over here as a language learner. 

So, everyone knows, famously now, that my Japanese is busted. But it’s busted at the intermediate level, so I have enough to function through everything, and my Japanese is good enough that if I needed to go somewhere and do something, that I could speak Japanese through it and understand what they were saying back to me. Like, I could handle immigration, I could handle the ward office, and I could handle the pension office and all of those types of things. I don’t. I let our son do it because his Japanese is much better than mine, and it takes him way less effort.

C: There’s a big difference between “can” and “do”.

K: Yeah. And, so, I – what I find interesting are my views on immigration that have stayed with me even though I’m an immigrant. And those that I have let go of. 

C: Okay.

K: So, do you have any pre- and post-, do you find that your position on immigration’s the same?

C: I find that, with most things, I’m not able to remember what my position was before I changed my mind unless I have external markers of, “I did this” or “I voted this way” to say, “okay, my views must have been different.”

K: Mhm.

C: So, I can tell you what my views are now, but I’m not confident that I could accurately tell you what my views were before. I do know that my whole life, I’ve known my grandparents on my mother’s side were immigrants.

K: Yeah.

C: So, I don’t think that I’ve ever been anti-immigration in general. I don’t think that I’ve ever been anti-immigrant in specific, but… maybe I was and I just, now that I’ve changed my mind, I don’t remember that.

K: I don’t remember you ever being anti-immigration, and I’ve never been anti-immigration. I’ve just had a lot of str- a lot of strong language views.

C: Mmm.

K: In terms of, if you’re going to live in a country, you should speak that language.

C: Mhm.

K: And I find that, now, I’m much more sympathetic to how difficult it is, as an adult, to learn a second language. And, especially, for me, what’s especially daunting is my ego. My ego gets in the way.

C: Yeah.

K: Because I can express myself as a college-educated – and I’m an expert in my field in English – and, in Japanese, I’m still, as a reader, I’m still in elementary school. And, as someone who can express themselves, I’m in jr. high. 

C: Mhm.

K: So, I’m not even in high school yet, and that really kills the motivation when I’m like, “dammit. I’m reading at an elementary school level, and I’m speaking at a jr. high school level?” That’s just really, like, well screw it. And I make money in English, and… live my life in English And I can see how that immigrant bubble happens.

C: Right, right. I think that… the immigrant bubble, too, you have people who act as facilitators or as gatekeepers depending on the community. 

K: Yeah.

C: Who either facilitate everybody interacting more fully with the bigger society or everything goes through them because they don’t like things when they don’t go through them because they… like… it’s not totalitarian; it’s just they don’t try and help people become self-sufficient. They do things for you and take a piece of that. And there’s both kinds of Western immigrants here – European and American immigrants – who will happily take your money to do things for you and not help you engage. 

K: And Japanese nationals. (laughs)

C: And Japanese nationals, yes. 

K: Who are more than happy to keep you helpless. To keep them employed.

C: Right.

K: The thing that I find most shocking is that the biggest international school – the second biggest international school – in our area; they promised to help and support their seniors stay in Japan, and then as soon as they’re no longer a part of the school system, they don’t help them at all. There’s no support.

C: I find the international school thing really interesting because I worked at one for a little while and

K: And international schools cost grip.

C: They do but

K: They cost tons of money. They’re so super expensive.

C: It also depends on what you mean by “international” school.

K: All of them. Even the little kindergarten schools. All the private schools in Japan are hella expensive.

C: Right, but I think that there’s a schism in what you – in what is called international schools. There are things that are targeted at the “host country” – and I’m putting air quotes around that – students to become more international, and then there are things that are targeted at foreigners to get schooling inside the “host country” again in air quotes.

K: Yeah.

C: And those schools can operate very differently, and usually schools are very firmly one or the other.

K: Yeah.

C: They’re very firmly, here in Japan, “we’re here to teach English to Japanese kids and make Japanese kids ready for university in an English-speaking country”

K: Yeah.

C: And I say English because that’s the most popular and most prevalent, but there are French and Russian and Chinese

K: In Nagoya.

C: In Nagoya. But, in Japan overall, there are French and Russian and Chinese schools and things.

K: Yeah.

C: And then there are the schools that are, “we’re here for everybody who’s not Japanese.” And they tend to really focus on the number of non-Japanese kids they have.

K: Yeah.

C: And they set quotas on, “we’re only going to have 30% of the kids be Japanese.” 

K: Yup.

C: Or stuff like that, so that you get this international flavor. And the kids that I feel have it the hardest are the third-culture kids. Like, I had a lot of Korean students who’d come over here and their native language is Korean, they need to speak Japanese to func – if they want to function outside of the bubble, but they have to speak English to function in the bubble. 

K: Yup.

C: And then the rules at most of the schools are, “you can’t speak a language other than the language of the school unless everybody around speaks that language.”

K: I find that, for me, in the United States, I was not aware of my privilege. I just wasn’t. 

C: Around this issue, you’re saying?

K: On anything. 

C: Mm.

K: In the U.S., I was just not – and that’s because I have such a tragic backstory, you don’t – how can you possibly get from entering the fostering system before my first birthday and being a foster kid dropping out of high school, getting my GED, and living on my own – emancipating and living on my own at 16 – to “I’m privileged.”

C: Mhm.

K: And, for me, it’s realizing the privilege of being American. And I know a lot of people feel like being American isn’t a privilege, but, for me, it is. And, for me, I see how privileged I truly am because I look at the rights of women around the world globally. And… there are women who are dying to get out of their country.

C: Mhm.

K: Like, literally, women who are being murdered because they’re trying to leave their country. And women who have never, ever, been on a plane and will never, ever, be on a plane. So, I look at like… there are levels of privilege. And I feel like being American, there is – that comes with a level of privilege for me, as a woman of color. And the fact that I haven’t gone through a lot of atrocities that women around the world globally experience. So… being an immigrant, as an American, in Japan, puts me at the top of the pecking order because, when the prime minister of Japan speaks about immigrants, he always singles out, “well, we’re not talking about Americans.”

C: Right.

K: They’re not – he doesn’t even say “North Americans” he says, “we’re not talking about Americans” because there is a bias against Canadians. Which I find… interesting.

C: Yes.

K: Because I work with a lot of the foreign community, and I find that it’s interesting to me because, in the United States, we hear how lovely Canada is… how nice Canadians are, and that they’re like better than us in every way – is the reputation in the United States of Canadians. The reputations of Canadians here in Nagoya, specifically, is that they’re incompetent, self-important, and blowhards. Which is so strange to me because, in the United States, that’s what we’re told everyone thinks about us outside of the United States.

C: Mhm.

K: In America, when I was there, everyone was telling me, “don’t leave because every other country will hate you. Don’t leave because they don’t want us. Stay here. Be isolationist, be separatist from the rest of the world and put America first.” And I think that that propaganda is put out there to keep all of – everything America has going for it, right? To keep all of the educated people there because as soon as you get a college degree, most countries will take you if you’re American. 

C: I think it’s interesting, though, because I didn’t feel like I got that propaganda. Like, I got that messaging.

K: So, you think this is just a Bay Area thing? Because I grew up in the Silicon Valley.

C: I’m not sure it’s a Bay Area thi

K: And so – and I grew up with, I grew up with people who were well-traveled even though I was in the foster system. Once I left the foster system, the people that I got to know had all traveled abroad. So…

K: I’m not going to say it’s a Bay Area thing. I think that it’s beyond the

K: Silicon Valley, not Bay Area. Bay Area, Silicon Valley.

C: I’m not sure it’s geographic. I’m going to say it’s beyond me to say what the source of it is.

K: Okay.

C: But that the message that I got about going abroad was, “go abroad and make your fortune.”

K: “And then bring it home”?

C: Like, “you’re one of the masters of the universe. Go… go be a titan of industry.” Right?

K: (laughs) Okay.

C: “Spread American”

K: So, colored woman, white man. Different level of privilege. Different message.

C: Like I said, I am not going to attribute that message, but

K: Okay. Huh. Interesting. So, you were told, “go be lord of the universe.”

C: Correct.

K: Okay. Were you supposed to marry a foreign woman?

C: No. No. 

K: Okay.

C: But I think about – we watched that show many, many years ago, Cracker.

K: Yeah.

C: And… there was the final season in Hong Kong

K: When he was in China

C: When he was in Hong Kong. 

K: So, we’re talking about Cracker, which is a U.K. series. It’s freaking amazing. Dark, dark stuff, but it is so good. 

C: And I don’t remember the name of the lead actor.

K: The guy who played

C: Hagrid in Harry Potter.

K: Yeah. We’re so sorry. You deserve the respect of us knowing your name.

C: He’s famous. He’ll get over it.

K: (laughs) And he doesn’t even know about us. 

C: No, no. He doesn’t get over it. 

K: He is not worried about us not knowing his name. But he’s such a brilliant actor.

C: Go ahead and call us if you’re upset. 

K: (laughs) Yeah, go ahead, and you know… send us a friend request.

C: Is that Robbie Coltrane or is that somebody different?

K: I don’t know. Is it Robbie Coltrane? We don’t google on this show.

C: We don’t google. Okay, so, anyway. But he

K: I think it is, though.

C: He says

K: I’m going to go with Robbie Coltrane.

C: He says at one point about somebody, or they say about him – I don’t remember which one – that they’re FILTH. “Failed in London, try Hong Kong.” 

K: Yeah. He says it. 

C: Okay.

K: He says it in one of – so, the thing about the show is he’s an alcoholic and a gambling addict.

C: Yeah.

K: And he has the best alcoholic rants of any show. The only show that had better rants was that one show about parliament that I watched.

C: Yeah, with Peter Capaldi. I don’t remember the name of that.

K: Yeah. I don’t remember the show, but Peter Capaldi’s rants were epic in that show. And just… filled with cursing. Like, next level cursing.

C: Like, Kisstopher level.

K: No. Better than me. 

C: Wow.

K: I haven’t mastered, like, bleep, but I haven’t mastered “cunt.”

C: Mmm.

K: And, so, I’m still trying to master using “cunt” because “cunt” is a really, really bad word if you’re American. You’re just never supposed to say it.

C: Right.

K: And then I watched this standup special, and the guy was like, “my grandmother said, ‘bring me my cunting slippers.’”

C: Oh, I think we’ve talked about this.

K: Yeah. And, so, now I’m just like – I’m in love with – and Peter Capaldi, his rants in that show were so epic and involved the word cunt a lot. 

C: Mhm.

K: And… I just love that word. I want to master it. 

C: Okay.

K: Yeah, I’m going to work – that’s one of the things I’m working on. Like, forget learning Japanese. I’m going to master the use of “cunt.”

C: Okay.

K: (laughs)

C: So, getting back to what I was saying

K: Yeah.

C: I think that attitude of, “if you’re a businessman, and you can’t make it in London, go to Hong Kong and you can make it big there.” Like…

K: So, you’re saying this is white privilege, and the message that you, as a white man, got in in the United States.

C: Correct. That’s what I’m saying. I’m saying that it’s the message that I got, and that I’m a white man. 

K: So, I wonder if it was a bit discriminatory. Like, international travel – see, I don’t think this was discriminatory. I don’t think this was me being a black girl thing. I think it was really – I think it was more… and I don’t even think it was patriarchy. I think it was really… I’m going to say it. I’m going to call it. I think it was very much a Silicon Valley thing.

C: Okay.

K: Because those were the people that I knew.

C: See, and I think it was very much a Mormon thing.

K: The reason I think it was a Silicon Valley thing is because just – full disclosure – it was when I was in the game. And, so, in the game, my clients were really rich white guys.

C: Okay.

K: And, so, the people I was hanging out with that I was like, air quotes, “hanging out with” – people that were giving me money for my time

C: Yes.

K: Were really rich white guys. And they were like, “no, they hate us overseas. They think we’re this, they think we’re that. You’re going to have a miserable time if you travel. You should say here.” 

C: Mmm.

K: So, maybe they had a vested interest in keeping me, specifically, available to them. 

C: Right.

K: I don’t know. But, then, famously – Kid ‘n Play wanted me to travel with them. So, I don’t know. Like, the musicians I met back in the day wanted me to travel with them.

C: Mhm.

K: And… the non-musicians wanted me to stay. So, I was getting this weird mix of information about what it was like to go abroad. So, I felt like if you go abroad famous, then it’s going to be awesome. And if you go abroad not being famous, it’s going to be miserable. 

C: Oh, that was the message you were getting?

K: Yeah, that was my message, so I always – that’s why by the time you had met me, when I was like – because at the – you met me when I was wrapping up that part of my life and packing it away kind of thing.

C: Yeah.

K: Um… then, I was very anti-going abroad. And I don’t think I had ever told you that. I don’t think I had ever told you why.

C: You hadn’t.

K: Yeah, I think this is news flash. Like, breaking news for you that I believed that people hate Americans.

C: This is breaking news because, when we met, I was very clear that I wanted to go overseas for graduate school. That I didn’t want to do grad school in the U.S.

K: Yeah, and I was like “no. I’m never leaving America.”

C: Yeah.

K: Because I had been taught that, erroneously, that everybody hates Americans. And, so, then, this is… privilege. I was able to go and be in foreign countries before deciding to leave. And we started small. We went to Canada, and then we went to Mexico, and then – I don’t even know if they’re in the right order, and don’t correct me because that’s tedious. But I see on you’re face that you’re like, “but you’re doing it wrong.” Where did we go? Where was the first place we went overseas?

C: Outside of the United States?

K: Yeah.

C: I’m pretty sure that the first we went outside of the United States together was the Bahamas.

K: And I think it was Mexico.

C: It was definitely not Mexico because our first cruise was the Bahamas, and the first time we went to Mexico was a cruise.

K: Okay. (clears throat) So, Bahamas, Mexico, Canada in some order.

C: In some order, right.

K: Because I know we were staying close to home because I was still a smoker. 

C: Yes.

K: And I couldn’t take long flights.

C: Right.

K: It was really hard for me to take a long flight.

C: You were like, “I can’t go over an ocean for too long because I need a cigarette.”

K: Yes. So (laughs) not smoking opened up my life more than anything, I think.

C: Yeah.

K: Because I came over to Japan to learn Japanese after I quit smoking.

C: But I definitely think that, if you can come over – come to a country as a tourist before deciding to move there

K: Yes. Yes.

C: Then you are in materially different circumstances than having to move someplace sight unseen. If you have a job when you arrive, you are in materially different circumstances than coming somewhere with no job.

K: So, you can’t do that in Japan. 

C: You can’t do that in Japan unless you come as a refugee.

K: Yes. So

C: Or unless you come as a Brazilian descendant of Japanese grandparents. Then you don’t have to have a job to come over. 

K: But you do have to have – so, for more clarity, coming as a refugee, you stay in a refugee center. Coming as a Japanese descendant, that gives you a special status. You don’t have any support, and you have no place to stay.

C: Right.

K: And then, coming as a tourist, you have limited stay.

C: Yeah.

K: And then, coming on a work visa, you have different restrictions, but Japan is so much better than the United States on this because your visa status is connected to what you’re doing, not to who you’re doing it with.

C: Yes.

K: So, if I come here on a student visa, as long as I’m a student, they’ll renew that visa until the end of time as long as I have – and here’s the kicker – you have to have ten thousand United States dollars, or a million yen, so like nine thousand something or a million yen in the bank to get your first student visa.

C: Right.

K: So, you’re – and I think – and, a weird thing about Japan – I think this is so weird. You cannot get a scholarship from a Japanese school or from the Japanese government until you are enrolled in school, but you can’t get a student visa unless you have ten thousand – or nine thousand – I’ll just say yen – a million yen in the bank. And I think, if you have a million yen in the bank, do you need a scholarship?

C: That’s actually – there are different things on this. Because I worked with a lot of scholarship students when I was at Meidai. 

K: Mhm.

C: Because I was a T.A. 

K: Yeah.

C: So, for certain types of government scholarships, if you’re sponsored by your government, you don’t have to have that money.

K: Yeah.

C: Because your government has undertaken to repatriate you if you need it.

K: Yeah.

C: And there are Japanese government scholarships intended only for foreign students.

K: But you still have to be accepted at the university before you can get it. 

C: No, the type that I’m thinking about, getting one of those scholarships is not accepted at the university – although only certain universities can take them. One, research universities can take them. If you get one of those scholarships, basically any school accepts you because they come with perks for the school as well. 

K: Mm.

C: So, it is possible to get a scholarship that’s not attached to a school from the Japanese government and then

K: But it’s really hard and competitive.

C: Yeah. And I applied for one of those after I graduated and didn’t get it. No shame, they’re really, really hard. 

K: Yeah. 

C: But

K: So, for me, I think we kind of digressed a little bit there talking about the differences in points of view with one of them being language learning. I don’t find that there are – I think there are pseudo-gatekeepers in Nagoya that make it seem like the community is super small.

C: Right.

K: And super insulated. What I find is interesting is that – how many of my clients assume I have seen someone that I have never even heard the name of.

C: Mhm.

K: And I don’t confirm or deny that anyone’s my client, so… you know. Maybe I heard their name or maybe I haven’t, but I can say honestly that people will say, “I know so-and-so is your client” and I’ll think, “I don’t even know who that person is.”

C: Right.

K: Like… who are they even talking about? Because there are a lot of foreigners in Nagoya. But they create these little cliques and bubbles. And what I find is that I don’t go into any of these cliques and bubbles. Like the American Chamber of Commerce Japan wants to be a gatekeeper in one area, but I feel like… that’s sort of collapsing in on itself as the restaurants fail. And then there’s… the different big English teaching companies.

C: Mhm.

K: Like there’s the ECC bubble, and then there’s, um, the Free Bell bubble – which is an apartment complex community. 

C: Right.

K: That becomes very insular. And then there’s the Nova bubble, there’s the Berlitz bubble, and all of these different bubbles think that… they’re it. 

C: Right.

K: And… when I did English teaching, I worked for tons and tons of companies because I treated English teaching like waiting tables because there were so many English teaching companies at the time that I was doing it, and I was like, “okay if I don’t like this company… I’ll just quit and go work at a different one.”

C: Yeah. 

K: And… whi – and our family needed the money. Needed me to be employed, but that’s just the way my mind works. And, so, I worked with a lot of different companies. And I went to this one company, and there was fifteen different English companies sending people in. Like, big name English companies. And I’m like, “okay.”

C: I remember that. I went with you. We went to Toba. 

K: Yeah, and I was like, “okay. So, this is an optical illusion.”

C: Right.

K: That there’s any scarcity of English teaching jobs, at that time. So… for me, I feel like I’m privileged from my point of view. And… I’ve never valued a job more than I valued myself. And my work has never been my identity, and I think that’s from my checkered, colored, exotic – however you want to put it – past. But no matter whatever work I was doing, that wasn’t who I am.

C: Right.

K: And I’ve always had to create that distance, so I feel like my under privilege – because of the way my mind works – kind of morphed into a type of privilege in that I’m always one step removed from everything that I’m doing.

C: Mhm.

K: Does that make sense?

C: I understand what you’re saying. 

K: Okay. So, coming over to Japan and being an immigrant, what changed my mind – I’ve always felt privileged to be American. I’ve always been super proud of that winning lottery ticket – because I think being American is a winning lottery ticket. The thing that changed my mind – my views and my understanding of American… immigration law, which I think is oppressive and… cruel and… arrogant. And separatist and – just wrong. I just think it’s wrong. I just do. And, for me, I just… seeing it – being in another country that’s not overwhelmed

C: Mhm.

K: And has a more, from my perspective, more sensical approach to immigration. Like… saying, “there are boundaries, we can’t just let everybody in.” There’s not… like… I don’t know on that. What would happen if there were no borders. I don’t know. So, I don’ have an opinion on that because I haven’t researched it enough to form an opinion, and I want it to be educated. But I feel like being an immigrant, I’ve educated myself enough to say that… I think the immigration policy of Japan is better than the immigration policy of the United States. 

C: I think it’s more coherent. And I think the immigration policy of Japan is consistently, “what can you do for Japan? Is this good for Japan?”

K: Yes.

C: And I think the U.S. immigration policy is… incoherent. 

K: Yeah.

C: And arbitrary. And that there are pockets of it that are similar to the Japanese one, but there are also pockets of it that are very pro-company. They’re like, “can you benefit this specific company that’s sponsoring?” Like, tying your visa to company on the H1Bs and stuff is very much “can you benefit a company?” Forget what the company does for the American economy, whether you’re a good person for the economy. It’s, “can you benefit this company?” I feel like the difference is… if Japanese immigration law is applied consistently and, let’s say, 100% enforcement, then society looks basically like it is. But if you were able to apply American immigration policy 100%, it would radically reshape the United States. There is not, here in Japan, a market for undocumented immigrants. 

K: No, there’s not. 

C: And the closest that it gets – and they’ve started cracking down on it because they’re like, “whoa whoa whoa this is not what we intended” – are the language-learning companies. 

K: Yeah.

C: That are set up really as places to provide cheap labor but not actually teach language. And the government is actively trying to shut those down.

K: Well, and, too, there’s also been a wave – which we’ve talked about it before – where they’re doing domestic workers and factory workers.

C: Right.

K: Visas for that. So, to me, I think if you want to come to Japan – if you’re curious about how to come to Japan – I think google it. For your country specifically. The Ministry of Education and Technology will have tons of – and JETROs – the Japanese – what does JETRO stand for? G-E-T-R-O

C: J-E-T-R-O is Japanese External Trade Relations Organization. 

K: Yeah, they’re a really solid information source, but my basic thing when people email me and they’re like, “how did you do it?” I tell them, “oh you don’t want my answer. My answer’s ten grand.” 

C: Yeah. 

K: And… so, yeah. That’s (laughs) the high end of things. But we moved a family of three.

C: Yes.

K: And… we sold off all of our possessions and sold a house, and… that’s how we were able to do it. So, again, that privilege comes into play. So, if you’re at home and miserable and wanting to figure out how to get the hell out of there and how to come to Japan, save three grand.

C: Mhm.

K: Go work a crappy job, live at home, don’t have a life, don’t do anything and keep your eye on the prize because, here’s the thing, Japan does not pay to patriate people to Japan. They don’t – to expatriate people to Japan – 

C: You’re saying that Japanese companies don’t pay moving expenses. 

K: No, they don’t. At all.

C: Yeah.

K: Like, Toyota does, but you have to get a job at Toyota and then work your way up

C: I think the internal transfer is a completely different thing, and anybody who’s in that situation probably already knows about it. If you’re working for a big multi-

K: Yeah. So, there’s Toyota, there’s Mitsubishi, Boeing, they pay – at least, in our area. And Chad’s making a face at me because I’m fanning myself, and I don’t care because we turned off our air conditioners to not have that buzzing noise, and I feel like I’m fricking melting. 

C: So

K: It’s June in Japan, and we don’t have our air conditioner on.

C: That’s a lot. So, I think

K: It is a lot. So, I’m hot.

C: If you’re working

K: I’m going to fan myself. 

C: If you’re working

K: Either give me air conditioning or allow me to fan myself. Oppressive man.

C: If you’re working for big multinational, and they have positions open overseas, I think you probably know that, look into that, go those, that’s absolutely your best route.

K: I have to turn a fan on.

C: Then turn a fan on. 

K: It’s – it’s just too much.

C: Okay.

K: I’m roasting. I turned it on really low just to have some air moving around my body.

C: I understand.

K: As I melt. I’m dying. It’s horrible. It’s awful here. I’m so hot.

C: It’s hotter in California right now. 

K: No, it’s not.

C: (laughs)

K: It’s a dry heat. 

C: Somewhere

K: I used to make fun of people when they were like, “it’s a dry heat” when I was in California. I was like, “what does it matter?” Oh, it matters. Trust.

C: (laughs)

K: Trust. It matters. It’s so humid. I can feel the air, like, laying on my body. 

C: Mm.

K: Pressing down heat into my soul.

C: Well, that’s no good. 

K: So, I’m having to drink water and have a low fan. Sorry for the noise, but

C: Okay.

K: You don’t want your girl to die.

C: No. Nobody wants that.

K: Thank you. Because the heat is just oppressive. So, something else I’ve learned from becoming an immigrant was, one, a clear focus on my privilege and, two, a clear focus on how America is viewed by the rest of the world.

C: Mhm.

K: And, so, in the United States, I was taught that America was the most powerful country in the world. And, in Japan, I’m discovering that it’s not. And, so… something that’s really surprising – I think I’ve mentioned it before – when Obama came into office, my life did not change at all. And, when Trump came into office, my life did not change at all. So… I had a boost – whenever there’s an election, I get an uptick in American clients who just want to talk to another American.

C: Mhm.

K: And… I’m there for everybody on both sides of the aisle because I’m a bipartisan therapist. (laughs) 

C: There you go enforcing the political binary. 

K: (laughs) Yes. I am non – I am politically non-binary. And I’m not making fun of anybody who’s gender non-binary. I do believe that there are people who believe the binary political system is injustice and corrupt. And I am one of those people. 

C: Yeah, I agree with you. I understand that the American politics, you have to create a binary at the national level.

K: Yeah.

C: There is no other way just because of how the

K: Because everybody acts like an independent or a green party would get elected president every year. Everyone’s hopeful, and I’m like, “no. They can’t get money.”

C: It is possible for a third party to get elected, but the moment they get elected you cease to have a three-party system again. It’s just that one of the other two parties dies. 

K: Yes. 

C: And we can look at history to see that. And the reason is related to the electoral rules. There’s just… mathematically, you have to end up with two parties. Because otherwise… nothing happens, basically. It’s – so, a parliamentary system like Japan has, you can have multiple parties. Japan, you don’t have multiple parties. Really, you’ve got one large party that, with a three-year exception, has been in power since World War 2.

K: Yeah. 

C: And you’ve got a bunch of smaller parties who… can shift around, and you ally with the main party for different ideological things. But

K: So, I like Japan more than I like the United States.

C: Wow. Bold words.

K: Yeah, I do. And I understand that those might be viewed as treasonous by some. 

C: I think the type of people who view those words as treasonous are not the type of people who would

K: Would listen to our podcast. (laughs)

C: Yes. 

K: Because they would have cleared out long before this episode.

C: Yes. 

K: There’s like (laughs) there’s so many more offensive things that I have said. That is not even the most offensive thing I’ve said.

C: Yes. 

K: I think it’s way more offensive to those people that I’m an atheist.

C: Mhm.

K: And a shameless former sex worker and like… part of the LGBTQIA+ community. I’m part of the plus. So, yes, the plus is important.

C: You’re that woman their parents warn them about.

K: I am. I am. That reminds me of that Lucille Ball episode of I Love Lucy when she was trying to scare off Ricardo’s – Ricky’s – Ricardo’s cousin by becoming that brazen women that they had always warned him about, and that just made him want to stay more.

C: Uh-huh.

K: (laughs) Loose women make the world go round.

(laughter)

K: And that’s such like so part of the patriarchy. 

C: Yes.

K: Yeah. So, anyways – anywho, back to what we were saying. So, I do like Japan better than I like the United States.

C: I like our life in Japan better than I liked our life in the United States. 

K: I think the patriarchy is alive and well in Japan.

C: Very much so.

K: But I think that there’s far less rape culture in Japan. And, so… looking at countries that don’t have the patriarchy alive and well, I don’t think there’s a single country on earth that the – even that country that it’s all women – there’s a village in Africa that’s all women – I think they’re still oppressed because they’re limited by the bubble of the – they’re insular inside the patriarchy. 

C: Mhm.

K: And so, for me, I feel like, “okay. Let’s pick a country that rape is really low.” 

C: Yeah. 

K: And violent crimes against women. I think there’s a lot of domestic violence in Japan.

C: Right.

K: And I think there’s a lot of spousal stuff that goes on in Japan, but I married someone safe, and that’s another privilege that I have. I have a safe husband.

C: Wow. I’m somebody’s privilege. That’s nice.

K: Yeah. Yeah. You’re my privilege. Not somebody’s. Let’s be clear.

C: (laughs)

K: You’re my privilege, bud. 

C: Oh, I know whose.

K: Okay. No, there’s not enough for you to go around anywhere.

C: Please don’t give me any demerits. 

K: (laughs) Yeah, you are my privilege. 

C: (laughs) 

K: So, which country do you like better?

C: I like live here in Japan better than I liked life in the United States.

K: Oh, hedging those bets. 

C: I’m not saying that one country is better than the other because I – I acknowledge that Japan has…

K: Problems.

C: Problems. Has a very totalitarian leaning. That, despite the parliament and everything, that there is a lot of

K: Fascist roots.

C: Fascist roots. The State Secrets Act that passed a few years ago is worrisome. Which is why you almost never hear any… real news about the government other than from government websites.

K: Yeah.

C: Is because

K: Don’t bother.

C: Journalists can be jailed for revealing government secrets, even if those secrets are supposed to be public knowledge. 

K: There is no third estate.

C: Fourth.

K: Fourth, sorry.

C: I don’t know what the other three are, so don’t look at me like, “what are the other three.” I just know that the press if the fourth estate.

(laughter)

K: Well, neither of one of us are journalists.

C: No.

K: So, there’s that. So, no, as an American… I feel protected a lot from a lot of Japanese shenanigans.

C: Yeah.

K: Because I feel like they just don’t bother with me because I’m not worth it. And I find them thinking of me as not being worth the effort to be really nice. And the fact that our son won’t be shot for walking down the street.

C: Mhm.

K: And he won’t – although he has been pulled over for driving while black in Japan – he wasn’t at risk of being shot when that happened.

C: Right.

K: And they did sit in his driver seat. And he was so irate about it when it happened. He was like, “they sat in my driver seat.” And I was just like, “this would be such a different conversation in the United States.” He was mad that they had gotten in his driver seat like that was the most offensive thing the police officer had done to him. 

C: Mhm.

K: Was they sat in his seat. As if they were the owner of that vehicle. And, for me, as a woman of color with a black son, having that be something that’s funny and comical

C: Right.

K: I prefer Japan over the United States because that wouldn’t have been a funny story. That would have been a terrifying story.

C: Yes.

K: Like, “you got pulled over by the police? What?”

C: Mm.

K: And, so, and his afro is big, and he doesn’t do anything with it. So… they were like, “dude you look like a vagabond.”

(laughter)

K: So, but go on. You were saying that Japan has its problems because you can’t get real reports on the government.

C: Yeah.

K: Which is so different than Trump going on and telling people just lies. 

C: It is different because

K: And banning people from the White House for reporting negatively on him or the Patriot Act.

C: Well, I think it is different because there’s no Freedom of Information Act here. 

K: Okay.

C: So, you can’t ever find out what the government is doing unless they feel like telling you.

K: So, in the United States, those redacted documents that you have limited access to is what you’re clinging to?

C: What I’m saying is in the United States they have to actively work against you discovering that information. And, here, all they have to do is say, “nope.” And, so, here

K: So, I feel like here is more honest. 

C: Yeah. Here, you can’t sue the government to get access. 

K: Yeah.

C: There’s no pretense that you will ever know what they are doing. 

K: Because it’s none of your damn business. Get elected.

C: Right.

K: (laughs) Run for office. Or get the mayor of your city drunk. (laughs)

C: Okay, and he will spill everything.

K: Yes, he will, honey. Yes, he will.

(laughter)

K: On that happy note, thank for – thank you for listening, and I hope that my oral disfigurement wasn’t too jarring. Or my fan. Or my fanning of myself. The things I’m doing. So, it seems like the f’s are the hardest.

C: Yes. The fricatives and the sibilants. 

K: Yes. On that happy note, talk to you next week.

C & K: Bye.

K: Or head on over to – I’ve got to plug the Patreon. 

C: Yes. Please do head on over to the Patreon because, look, the plosives are no problem. Those P sounds.

K: Yes. (laughs)

C: P-P-Pay for the P-P-Patreon.

K: Yeah. I didn’t hardly laugh this…

C: Yeah, I’m sorry for not being funny today.

K: Yeah. You just weren’t. Sorry.

C: Maybe I’ll be funnier on Take Two.

K: So, cheer Chad up by heading over to Patreon and becoming a patron and checking out our Take Two. Maybe he’ll be funny there.

C: Okay, for real, bye though.

K: Yeah, it is. We can only hope that Chad will return back to his humorous, jolly self. (laughs)

C: It’s too hot for funny.

K: Bye.

C: Bye.