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Maya Rushing Walker's avatar

What a wonderful essay! And thank you for the references, I am reading both. Regarding Damian Flanagan's A.A. Gill quote that there are two kinds of cultural criticism, I think I am come from a third type. Some of my thoughts about Japan come from years of study, but there are huge areas where I am a complete novice and feel very much like an outsider who notices things that aren't of interest to "experts." Or maybe I'm a fourth type, since he doesn't consider people who have grown up both inside and outside, the way I have--neither fully Japanese nor Western.

Or maybe my thoughts aren't even categorizable that way, and I'm just an odd duck.

I sometimes think about returning to my study of Arabic because I'm 100% an outsider there, and it's very relaxing to know exactly what I am.

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Leanne Ogasawara's avatar

When I read that I was also thinking of my son because he’s definitely not an insider but he’s also not an outsider. It’s a liminal space that’s not relaxing like you said! But I think it’s also very fruitful or it can be like in your case! But it is for my son too because the way he loves Japanese food and he’s taken on so many cultural predilections from his father side. He always identifies as Japanese, despite his refusal to study hanging. From my point of view, since he’s been here since he was eight he’s so American. But I do think there’s something to the way pico iyerremains an outsider that he captured things that long timers don’t notice or maybe bi-cultural people also wouldn’t notice. I really appreciate you leaving us, and it was so nice to read thank you so much! In Waimea for another 10 days.

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Maya Rushing Walker's avatar

Oh! I didn't know you were in Hawaii! Lucky!

If your son was in Japan until age eight, it would be hard for him NOT to be "somewhat" Japanese, I would think. My kids are only a quarter Japanese and they regularly are startled to realize that they have default responses and tastes that are very Japanese, but I never intended anything like that, we also eat a lot of Lebanese food (my husband's side) and have even lived in the Middle East. It's super weird, the things that bubble up, and where and how they bubble up. It's great that your son is in Hawaii, and what's also great is that things in Hawaii have morphed so much over the decades.

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Leanne Ogasawara's avatar

All this heritage is such a blessing, I think! And some kids take more than others from their heritage, but it doesn’t really matter. I always self identified as being Italian American and then I had my DNA tested, and it turned out much less Italian than I expected, and I was surprised that I was pretty devastated and cried. We mainly were staying in Waimea. My son went back to Honolulu a couple days ago. I already miss him terribly, but then again, a little bit of that boy goes a long way! It’s incredible. How much Japanese influence is on the big island. We went birding today, and the guide pronounced Japanese word, so perfectly as if he had lived in Japan, we had the best sushi for dinner and we are going to be staying in a former Japanese horse ranch on the big island. I’ll post pictures on Instagram.

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Sally's avatar

Omg! I love this! I'm going to keep coming back to this time and time (!) again . . . Everything you've written here. I dare say that the raft of incomplete poems using the pine tree is undoubtedly a reflection of these various accountings of silence and place, silence in space, the quiet of change inhabiting the infinitesimal of the dewdrop world in the grain of a sighting tree. . . :)

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Leanne Ogasawara's avatar

Thank you so much!!!! I think the word is also really similar to what David Hinton called as, something like degenerative tissue. Getting into more of a Daoist understanding of it. I wanted to write that but I don’t have any of my books with me but I’m sure David Hinton wrote something about that I just can’t remember the exact phrase!

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Leanne Ogasawara's avatar

Generative!! Not degenerative!!

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Sally's avatar

Of course; I knew what you meant! lol! And, just to clarify, the incomplete pine trees I refer to is my own work. The screen painting of the pine trees here is incredible. Thank you so much for finding it!

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Lauren Mariko Scherr's avatar

i love this so much!

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Leanne Ogasawara's avatar

Thank you so much for saying that!

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Chris Martin's avatar

This is one of my favorite dreams of dreaming!

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