Where is Derek?

Honne and Tatemae are: Honne, one’s true feelings and self and Tatemae, your public face. Knowing the importance of the two faces of Japanese society are necessary to understand Japanese culture.

There are a lot of pressures exerted on the average Japanese person from work, family, friends and everyone else in society. The nail that stands out gets hammered. That is the Japanese mentality. By acting as a group, things get done. The group vs the individual is the biggest source of frustration for the Japanese. I can’t imagine having to keep the public face up and not expressing myself. I would explode. By having to keep up appearances to maintain harmony I can see why the Japanese develop strong attitudes toward hobbies and releasing stress, i.e. cosplay fascination, going to kabakura/host/hostess bars and other avenues to escape reality.

I have to learn what I can and develop and grow but stay grounded in who I am and where I came from. NYC baby, Japan can’t hold me down. Remember the good and forget the bad.

Another great webpage on Honne and Tatemae

[ Life.Iz.Good ]

Hey yall, I am sporting a new look… Gyaruo aka Shibuya guy stylie. What do you think?

Here are some pictures of my kids…

And finally hustling the streets as a host…

My costume for the weekend will be as a host. Want to know more about hosts. Check out the documentary… The Great Happiness Space. This documentary follows Osaka’s number one host aka The Osaka Love Thief

[ Life.Iz.Good ]

Recent roommate developments: One of my roommates uses the bathroom faster than a dude. Seriously, not that I am watching but my room is right near the bathroom and 1.5 seconds go by and my roommate is back out and she didn’t even wash her hands! The other one leaves shit stains in the bowl and doesn’t have the common courtesy to scrub the bowl, maybe they are one in the same. I am working on caricatures of my roommates: The ninja mouse that does not speak, the stampeding buffalo that only is active at 3am and the fat pig with the voice of a cackling hen. I am cracking myself up with the drafts of these three. I can’t even imagine what they think of me… It would be hilarious.

[ LIfe.Iz.Good ]

Sorry guys for not posting anything new in such a long time. I have been busy entertaining and going to going away parties. Since, I posted last, I had my friend Jason crash at my place for a week. And let me tell you, that was some week!

Some of the misadventures that took place that week were: 1. Going to a sexy cabakura / hostess bar 2. Partying with my friend Masa and meeting one of the girls of my dreams, miss gold top, I forgot her name 3. Meeting OJdevillager in Kabukicho 4. Hanging out in Roppongi and messing with the hustlers and prostitutes 5. Tokyo Dome City and Thunder Dolphin 6. Kichijoji and a going away party

I also got a Japanese credit card and scheduled couchsurfing location in France/Spain. I have my Halloween costume too! Stay tuned for my Halloween pictures…

The week started sort of like this…

And went from this…

To this… Very rapidly…

I wish we brought our cameras for some of the trouble we got into that week…

It was a great week with a great friend…

[ Life.Iz.Good ]

Life can’t be better with good friends and a wonderful girl…

Life as an English teacher in Japan… Want to know? Listen…

I got this friend from a friend Mick. Here’s the weblink: Floating World

Fat guy in little moat…

[ Life.Iz.Good ]