leeway comments

This topic presets some interesting issues. When I was new to Japan, I remember hearing a well seasoned ex-pat say, “You know, if Japan had invented baseball, it would have been one strike an you’re out.” From the views of the women presented in this article, we can tap into what it is like to live in that kind of society. It also shows us how much Japanese people can gaman-suru and deny their selves for the seemingly greater needs or wants of someone else or others.

Before rushing in to judge, it’s worth taking a look at the other end of the stick. I recently watched an American movie called A.C.O.D., an acronym for adult children of divorce. That movie looked at the same issue from a different angle—the angle of the first generations of Americans to live with divorce as a status quo. It’s generations in plural because it’s both parents and the children. According to dailyinfographic.com, 50% of marriages in America now end in divorce, and the percentage balloons for second and third marriages. It’s not a pretty picture, either.

Perhaps there will come a generation in both Japan and America where it will be two strikes and you’re out.

What I find interesting is the way Kevin Smith has used Twitter and his celebrity to turn this into a publicity storm. The pilot was doing his job, putting the safety of all passengers first by asking Kevin to leave. Kevin was doing his job by turning it into a story. And we are doing our job by consuming it. Isn't the 21st century bold?