The Taxi Theorist

Are you busy?
- Yes, it's hanami season now. That's the season when Japanese like to go out and sit under the trees and drink. It's a uniquely Japanese phenomenon.
Actually, I was out there myself last night. It's always fun. There was a big group sitting next to us under the next tree having a formal banquet. They had brought out tables and formal cutlery.
- Ah yes, that's what foreigners are used to. Japanese sit on tatami but foreigners sit on chairs.
Well, actually it was the exact opposite.
- Yes, yes, the Japanese sat on the ground and you sat at tables.
No, it was the opposite of that.

I finally got through to him, so he adapted the theory.

- Ah yes, that's because foreigners who come to Japan want to experience the Japanese way. That's why they are here. And the Japanese, they want to experience another culture, too, and that's why they sit at tables. Everyone wants the thing that they don't have.

Interesting about-face.

So, is there anything foreign that you like yourself?
- Well, if I were younger, it might be different, but I'm 61 and foreign things don't really appeal to me. Japanese young people today have lost the bushido spirit.
Really. If you were live somewhere outside Japan, where would it be?
- I'd live in The Phillipines or Vietnam where men are still strong. Young Japanese have no respect for the strength of men. When I was growing up, men were strong and admired. Women were looked down on because they were weak. In the Phillipines, they still believe that men are strong, and a man can walk with pride. In my father's day, we looked down on women. We were strong.
Are you married?
- Yes.
And how do you get along with her?
- Well, we're not exactly equal in status. She is still weaker, but we are more equal than the older generation. Sometimes, I will go for a walk with her. In my father's time, a man would never walk with a woman. That would show weakness. Now young people walk beside each other all the time. They have lost respect for men. A man would have been ashamed in the past to walk beside a woman. That's why I still don't believe in lady-first, although the young people do that. Where are you from?
I'm from Europe.

I don't know why I say I'm from Europe these days. I used to say Ireland, but I got tired about hearing about the program that they had watched about the Irish countryside. Europe is too big to be easily classified and allows more ambiguity. Being ambiguous is good for a taxi chat because these guys can walk themselves into more dangerous alleys of conversation.

- Ah Europe. Then you're different from the United States. Over there, they all believe in lady-first. You don't all follow that in Europe, do you?
Well, we do a bit you know.
- That's because Europe is like Japan. Japan is based on the bushido system. Europe is based on the feudal system, so you understand the difference between different groups in society. In America, the people came from all sorts of different places, so they are far more diverse than Europe.

Indeed, that's why they all speak different languages and don't have the same chain stores in replicated malls :)

Ah yes, theorism is a moving feast. Moving in the taxi, I was sad to leave it, but the driver helped me unload my eight heavy boxes and seemed extremely happy with the 20 yen tip.