What is the pull, for me, of Japanese culture? This is a question I ask myself almost daily. Interestingly reading Alex's (ZealUK--his handle still identifies with Old Blighty at least) post just makes me incredibly JEALOUS of the fact that he is living in Kagoshima and practising Jigen Ryu. And no it's not so much the Jigen Ryu thing (although it would be fascinating and incredibly rewarding), it is the Kagoshima thing, for I love Japanese culture and kendo in particular, but Kagoshima is my second home-town and I miss it terribly. This was not something I built up from reading Donn Draeger or Gorinosho, it happened after I got to Japan to do kendo. And it's been 13 years since I lived there. Why? I have no idea but I'm still wondering.
Maybe it's past lives. Maybe, as it's popular to say in Australia since we don't really have our "own" culture, we are, at heart, nomads who are not always fullfilled by the culture of the place of our birth, an accident we could not control.
OTOH I recognise that had I been born Japanese, I would almost certainly have rebelled and not had anything to do with "Dento Bunka", because at heart I am anti-establishment, anti-patriarchy, anti-violence, anti-conservatism, etc, etc, etc. And budo and kendo are pillars of these medieval mindsets. So if I was Japanese I would probably be playing soccer, or have emigrated to Australia by now and have become a documentary filmmaker!
It's an almost unsolveable koan. But at least I know enough now to ask the question.
b