<A Beginner’s Guide to Japan>

Come next year, I aim to be more intentional in my reading, to adopt a “hunting” (as opposed to “searching”) mindset to water my mind more strategically. What better way to start this quest than reading Pico Iyer, one of the most famous travel writers on Japan?

Immediately, I was humbled by his writing. I picked up this book because it contained short observations and provocations. You know, concise ruminations that would be easy to speed through during those pockets of time so precious to a working parent. I didn’t fancy the title “A Beginner’s Guide to Japan” - because surely I’m more than a beginner! I’m married to a Japanese lady and am raising bicultural kids! Surely, this book is beneath me!

Right off the bat, Pico Iyer explains in his introduction that he considers himself a beginner to Japan. That’s why he titled his book as such, despite the fact that he has lived in a Japanese suburb with his Kyoto-born wife and kids for a staggering more than 32 years.

Who am I not to call myself a beginner?!

I think I have been indoctrinated too much by the working world. All this relentless talk about developing your forte/domain expertise so that you can craft a niche and rise above others to be a leader/coach/mentor and dazzle others as a More Knowledgeable Other. Such thinking conditions me to be in the perpetual state of “selling” myself.

I have forgotten how I was raised during those civics and moral education (好公民) lessons in elementary school. 做人要谦虚。 (One must strive to be humble.) Pico Iyer seems to have honed this trait into an art form.

3 chapters in. I’m still only at the beginning of this journey, but there’s already so much to appreciate in Iyer’s book. Stay tuned for more Kai Le Sensei’s insights.