What Is Normal?

During my time here I've learned a lot about the Japanese. For example, they can be very "boom"-oriented, happy to jump on the bandwagon when something becomes popular only to change their minds soon after, which happened a few years ago when everyone suddenly decided Korean dramas were the neatest thing since microwavable rice. They have a tendency to be meticulous and obsessive, too, like the student of mine who was desperately in love with a boy she knew but was too shy to confess her feelings...over the course of fifteen years. I've also observed that many Japanese want to be thought of as futsu (foo-tsoo), that is, normal, ordinary, or just like everyone else. I had a friend in college who was quite a unique individual in many ways, for example being so passionate about learning English she'd try to memorize an entire dictionary page each day. I once told her my opinion, using the word kawatteru (ka-wat-teh-ru) which carries the nuance of being unusual or slightly eccentric, rather than the word hen ("strange"), which would have been rude. Although I'd meant it as a compliment -- after all, I don't have a "normal" bone in my body-- she was taken aback by my statement, saying, "No, I'm a normal girl, the same as everyone else." In the anime Clannad After Story there's an episode in which Nagisa tells Tomoya she can't go on a date with him because she has to take a "mock exam," a practice test for the coming college entrance examinations. "But you're not going to university. Why take the test?" "I want to take it with my classmates, so I can be the same as them."

Some Japanese prefer to be thought of as "normal" at all costs, which confuses my individualistic American brain.