"Turning Japanese"

I chose to read "Turning Japanese" by David Mura for my non-fiction assignment. This is a story about the year David Mura spent in Japan and his quest to figure out his identity. Mura is a Sansei, or a 3rd generation Japanese-American, who goes to Japan to try and discover what it means to be Japanese. He grew up in Minnesota and only really knew American culture. He discusses throughout the book his confusion about his identity. He knows his grandparents came to America from Japan, but he has a hard time relating to the Japanese side of him. Mura is a poet and was able to spend that year in Japan after being granted a fellowship through the U.S./Japan Creative Artist Exchange. He looked at it as a big opportunity to "turn" more Japanese.

The story began with Mura discussing his earlier college years, and his apprehensions about travelling. He liked the familiar and found being in a new place uncomfortable. He stated, "A true landlocked Midwesterner, I wanted to read about the world. But go there? Never." When he got to Japan, he really just wanted to fit in. He didn't want to appear American since he was Japanese and thought he needed to blend in. He felt a little guility about not knowing very much Japanese, which is quite understandable. I really liked how honest Mura was with expressing his first thoughts about Japan as it gave the reader a good glimpse of how awkward Mura must have first felt.

As the story progresses, Mura comes to enjoy Japan more than America in many aspects. He dabbles in all sorts of activities that he wouldn't have tried back in the states. He's fascinated with Butoh and Noh dancing and starts taking lessons from a man named Ono. I found these dances fascinating to read about because they're so differernt from anything you'll find in America. Mura's wife, Susie, who also travelled to Japan, enjoys Tea Ceremony's because of their calming nature. I overall enjoyed reading about Mura's various adventures and all the places he travels to. He talks about living in Tokyo, visiting the Shamans at the Osore-zan mountain, and seeing the rural fishing village his grandparents had come from. I would love to visit Japan one day, so it was interesting to read about all these contrasting places.

The more time Mura spent in Japan, the more he began to relate with the Japanese people. He noticed several traits in himself that are common in many Japanese such as politeness and not showing criticism. It was also quite interesting to read about all the different people Mura met during that year. Each person contributed something new to Mura's life and had a unique personality that was fun to read about.

"Turning Japanese" was an enjoyable memoir to read mostly because the Japanese culture is so different from our own and seeing what everyday Japanese life is like was very interesting and revealing.

"A Vindiction of the Rights of Woman"

Mary Wollstonecraft's "A Vindiction of the Rights of Woman" gave a very insightful view of how women were treated in the 1700's. I thought Wollstonecraft's essay was very honest, and it was hard to miss the anger and frustration she felt regarding the way women were expected to act and think. It must have been aggravating to have been a woman during that time when women were so oppressed. From what I can gather, I think the gist of the essay was purely ideas/views about women that should have been common sense to everyone else as well.

I enjoyed the quote, "That a proper education; or, to speak with more precision, a well stored mind, would enable a woman to support a single life with dignity." I thought this basically summed up Wollstonecraft's view that women deserve a proper education as much as men. I thought it also illustrated the fact that women should be able to live independently without fear of social consequences or shame. I found Mary Wollstonecraft to be very opinionated and intelligent which was quite unusual for her time. I thought that made her pretty brave and I can definitely respect that.

Wollstonecraft also alluded to authors such as Rousseau and Dr. Gregory and how she was opposed to their views on women. I liked how she proceeded to state why she disagreed with them and offered her own views. It was refreshing to see her comments on their writings, especially from a woman's perspective. She stated, "I may be accused of arrogance; still I must declare, what I firmly believe, that all the writers who have written on the subject of female education and manners, from Rousseau to Dr. Gregory, have contributed to render women more artificial, weak characters, than they would otherwise have been." I thought this really depicted the ignorance of male authors trying to write about a topic they knew essentially nothing about.

I thought this essay was a fairly beneficial step towards feminism, and although I didn't always understand the language or entirely agree with what Wollstonecraft was saying, I believe women such as her were true pioneers towards the freedoms women have today.

"Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

Nicholas Carr's essay about the effects of Google and the internet on our brains was really interesting to read, and I thought it offered a new perspective on the ways the internet affects people. I liked that Carr discussed a topic that affects so many people everyday. Essentially everyone uses the internet, so it's a very relateable topic as well as informative.

Although I didn't always agree on every point Carr made, I was impressed by how much he supported his arguments He did bring up several good points throughout the essay regarding concentration that I could definitely relate to. Whenever I'm reading a book, I've noticed that I also have troubles concentrating after a certain amount of time. I think it's really easy to get distracted on the internet and that sometimes crosses over into other daily activities, such as reading.

I enjoyed the quote, "The more pieces of information we can access and the faster we can extract their gist, the more productive we become as thinkers." However, I don't entirely believe that extended internet use is going to lead to a huge change in the way we think and contemplate. I think people will continue to read books as well as read on the internet.

Even though I don't believe Google and the internet in general is going to cause some sort of massive change in the way we think about things, I do believe it plays a factor. We've become so used to getting information right away via Google and other search engines, that we've come to expect that in other aspects of our lives as well. Nicholas Carr's essay on this subject definitely made me take a stance on Google and the internet and I think it's a valuable tool as long as we use it in moderation and continue to use others methods of gathering information. Even if they're slower.