The trouble with knowing

When I first came to Japan, I used to watch TV and think, "Everything I see on TV here is intensely interesting and confusing. When I understand Japanese, things will be even more interesting and even more enjoyable." Well, believe me, it's not.

Today, I realized that Japanese TV showcases some of the things I dislike most about Japanese society: people being ridiculously impressed with small things, people overreacting because they think it's funny to over-react like, "Omigod! It's a bird!" at a zoo, lots of "hamming it up", and skits — really dumb skits.

Japanese TV can be classified in a couple of categories:

• News
• Talk show
• Quiz show
• Eating show
• Talk-Quiz-Eating show
• Men dressed as women show
• Eating show

There are also loads of celebrities in Japan, but I'm not really sure what they're famous for other than always being the "famous people" on the quiz the famous people shows. And they play for themselves, meaning any money they win they keep. Great!

After getting a haircut today that I feel "has a personality", I realized that I am going bald. I've got a couple of good years left. Me and my friend E talked about fashion yesterday for like a half an hour and how much we despised people in black shoes and white athletic socks. And how there's no excuse for wearing running shoes if you aren't running. And how important a good overcoat is. I've managed to become everything I hate.

I think Jack Kerouac is the shit. I also think Noam Chomsky is the shit.

Lastly, me and Yoko got engaged over 1 year ago. We rule!