when we travel that is those of us
privileged enough to travel
we usually pack two types of things in
Japanese that refer to as mono and koto
mo know is used for physical tangible
things like clothes and deodorant in to
face while koto is used for intangible
things like thoughts and feelings and
ideas unpacking mo knows are pretty
straightforward process you open your
suitcase and you remove the items inside
and you sort them out you put your
shirts their pants their toiletries over
there move on to the next bag and repeat
as necessary while unpacking koto is a
more complicated more involved process
and the person who enters into this
process may be very different from the
person who emerges from this process now
some people believe that human beings
are incapable of change and for the most
part I agree if a person never has the
chance to question and examine their
core beliefs about the world and more
importantly about themselves chances are
they won’t change but living in a
fundamentally foreign environment often
forces us to confront deeply embedded
thoughts and feelings and ideas and once
we’ve done that I believe that change is
not only possible it’s inevitable Cotto
usually comes into play when we venture
outside of our sphere of comfort
otherwise we probably don’t notice it
much I mean you’ve probably heard
yourself say thank God I brought my
mittens cuz it’s awfully cold out there
but you probably never heard yourself
say thank God I packed my moral
superiority because these people so
let’s talk a little bit about koto we
carry around with us
all day every day we keep it in our
hearts and our minds and our souls and
so it’s heavy the weight is dispersed in
such a way that we usually don’t pay it
much mind until we unpack it case in
point
when I first came to Japan I only
intended to stay here for one year but
three years later I was still here and I
decided that I was going to stay here
at that time I was working at this big
franchise English school in Tokyo and at
this school they had a special room
where students and instructors could go
and talk about any topics Under the Sun
this one day I was there with these
three Japanese students and these three
students they’d love to talk about the
differences between Americans and
Japanese this was a favorite topic
personally I hated this topic mostly
mostly because the students will always
express these ideas in opinions that
really reflected the America that I grew
up in and they would assert these
opinions with authority to me the only
American in the room and this day was no
different at first the students had a
lot to say about America some of it was
quite critical
now usually usually when students became
critical about my country I would hear
them out nod and smile or cut someone
there because I’m a Kamisama so I’d nod
and smile but this was all before I came
to this decision that Japan was my home
and this decision was key because up
until that point I had no real skin in
the game all right I was having a ball
Japan was this great big amusement park
and believe me I was very very much
amused but this decision changed all of
that all right I began to see myself
differently I no longer saw myself as a
patron at this amusement park now I
began to see myself and my country as
attractions at this Japanese amusement
park and as you might imagine I was no
longer amused so I don’t know if those
students knew at that point but I
definitely knew that the next critical
remark that came out of their mouths
about my country tis of thee would be
met let’s just say my nodding his
smiling days were over right now
this feeling this Pope though it wasn’t
nationalism or patriotism I mean if I
had suddenly become a nationalist or a
patriot those students would have to
call an ambulance to carry me out of
there on a stretcher all right but the
reason I left America was not because I
hate America it was mostly because I
wanted to find a I want to gain a new
perspective in a new environment not out
of hate truth be told the strongest
feeling I have for
America at that point that I was
conscious of was disappointment but this
cult oh this feeling it wasn’t
nationalism it wasn’t patriotism and it
wasn’t disappointment it was it was more
akin to the feeling you might have about
your child let’s say your child is you
know for a fact you’re challenged uh the
worst bully in the school right beats
the crap out of the boys on the jitter
on a regular and he grabs the girls by
their private parts and he throws
history books at the teachers and you
know he’s he steals anything he’s a nail
down he’s a bad seed a bad seed but
that’s your child all right that’s your
problem child your flesh and blood and
you still hold on to this belief this
unfounded faith that someday someway
your child will grow up to be a fine and
decent human being that underneath all
that anger and hostility and racism and
bloodshed and violence underneath all
that ugliness there’s greatness and not
that make America great again greatness
but real genuine greatness just waiting
to be unleashed
so naturally naturally if someone
criticizes your child or mistreat your
child you’re gonna take issue with that
and if someone god forbid puts their
hands on your child you’re ready to go
to the mattresses right so I think it’s
safe to say that this coat though that I
unpacked it wasn’t love I wouldn’t call
it love but it was definitely something
powerful and paternal and protective I
felt for America so now you got this
coat oh it’s laid out before you know
all its glory what are you gonna do with
it right if you’re a tourist you could
just ignore it you know you’re going
home next week you just ignore it but
you’re not a tourist right you are a
human being striving to build and
maintain meaningful relationships all
right you’re trying to hold a mindset
that will behoove you that will benefit
you that will position you for success
here in your new environment you’ve
immersed yourself in a new culture and a
new language this is all hard work it’s
all complicated stuff all right
fun and games are over the amusement
park is closed you playing for keeps now
all right in my case I knew I just knew
there was no way I could just traipse
through my new life here in Japan with
this volatile koto analyst with this
American chip on my shoulder because I I
had already been living here three years
prior to coming to this decision to stay
here and in that time I already got a
sense of what life is like here in Japan
alright in those three students they
were just the tip of the iceberg I knew
that here more so than in America here I
would be judged first and foremost by my
nationality and by my skin color and
that any presumptions and any
stereotypes floating around about either
would be applied to me without a second
thought so I knew that the key to my
success to thriving and surviving in
Japan was the management of this koto
that I had to make peace with the
American in me and make way for the
person I was becoming by virtue of
wrenching myself free from the
overwhelming influence that America had
over my thoughts and my feelings and my
actions to cease to be a mere American
and to become a global citizen in the
truest sense of the term which has much
more to do with what’s going on in your
heart than what it says on your passport
so let’s say you’re a student going to
start a new school or you’re you’re
moving to a new neighborhood or you’re
you’re starting a new job or like myself
you’re making a go of it in a new
country at some point all of us are
gonna find ourselves on unfamiliar turf
unfamiliar turf is is fertile territory
for koto to make an appearance now I
hope I haven’t given the impression that
koto is always bad news
it isn’t sometimes you’ll find that your
hotel has been working on your behalf
all along and if that’s the case I say
let it be but if you find that it has
been quietly undermining your efforts to
achieve your goals all along then I
isn’t it wonderful that we all have this
capacity to liberate ourselves of this
stuff all right now there’s no
one-size-fits-all way to do this all
right some people do a tree
they draw paint they were right
make music DJ some people do is
spiritually meditate pray yoga some
people find a community or cause that
inspires them it’s a very personal
journey my journey which has taken me
from teacher to blogger to author to
columnist to activists here in Japan
just to a person of some notoriety my
journey began with this thought what
kind of impact would it have on the
negative perception of blackness here in
Japan if I used my ingenuity my energy
my gifts to bring black excellence to
national attention that was the thought
I had and that thought gave me a
destination and once I had that
destination it seemed that the Lord I’ve
been lugging around all my life and lost
some of his heft and the my mind became
open to the abundance of opportunities
that the mere American me might have
misconstrued as misfortune or missed
altogether likely likely you’re
different your circumstance will be very
different than my you’re probably not an
African American living abroad shocked
to discover he has complicated feelings
about both sides of their hyphenation
and you’re probably not an a black
American raised in a hyper racialized
environment trying to temper his
sensitivity and temper his sensibilities
to an entirely new racial dynamic and
you’re probably not a person who has
come to the alarming realization that
you too are capable of prejudging human
beings based on nationality and skin
color all of which are Cotto I’ve had to
I’ve had to unpack over the past 15
years however I’m sure your Cotto is
equally complexed so whatever your
destination may be I implore you to make
sure that your luggage is suitable to
your journey and if it isn’t unpack that
Cotto and lighten your load thank you
you [Applause]
privileged enough to travel
we usually pack two types of things in
Japanese that refer to as mono and koto
mo know is used for physical tangible
things like clothes and deodorant in to
face while koto is used for intangible
things like thoughts and feelings and
ideas unpacking mo knows are pretty
straightforward process you open your
suitcase and you remove the items inside
and you sort them out you put your
shirts their pants their toiletries over
there move on to the next bag and repeat
as necessary while unpacking koto is a
more complicated more involved process
and the person who enters into this
process may be very different from the
person who emerges from this process now
some people believe that human beings
are incapable of change and for the most
part I agree if a person never has the
chance to question and examine their
core beliefs about the world and more
importantly about themselves chances are
they won’t change but living in a
fundamentally foreign environment often
forces us to confront deeply embedded
thoughts and feelings and ideas and once
we’ve done that I believe that change is
not only possible it’s inevitable Cotto
usually comes into play when we venture
outside of our sphere of comfort
otherwise we probably don’t notice it
much I mean you’ve probably heard
yourself say thank God I brought my
mittens cuz it’s awfully cold out there
but you probably never heard yourself
say thank God I packed my moral
superiority because these people so
let’s talk a little bit about koto we
carry around with us
all day every day we keep it in our
hearts and our minds and our souls and
so it’s heavy the weight is dispersed in
such a way that we usually don’t pay it
much mind until we unpack it case in
point
when I first came to Japan I only
intended to stay here for one year but
three years later I was still here and I
decided that I was going to stay here
at that time I was working at this big
franchise English school in Tokyo and at
this school they had a special room
where students and instructors could go
and talk about any topics Under the Sun
this one day I was there with these
three Japanese students and these three
students they’d love to talk about the
differences between Americans and
Japanese this was a favorite topic
personally I hated this topic mostly
mostly because the students will always
express these ideas in opinions that
really reflected the America that I grew
up in and they would assert these
opinions with authority to me the only
American in the room and this day was no
different at first the students had a
lot to say about America some of it was
quite critical
now usually usually when students became
critical about my country I would hear
them out nod and smile or cut someone
there because I’m a Kamisama so I’d nod
and smile but this was all before I came
to this decision that Japan was my home
and this decision was key because up
until that point I had no real skin in
the game all right I was having a ball
Japan was this great big amusement park
and believe me I was very very much
amused but this decision changed all of
that all right I began to see myself
differently I no longer saw myself as a
patron at this amusement park now I
began to see myself and my country as
attractions at this Japanese amusement
park and as you might imagine I was no
longer amused so I don’t know if those
students knew at that point but I
definitely knew that the next critical
remark that came out of their mouths
about my country tis of thee would be
met let’s just say my nodding his
smiling days were over right now
this feeling this Pope though it wasn’t
nationalism or patriotism I mean if I
had suddenly become a nationalist or a
patriot those students would have to
call an ambulance to carry me out of
there on a stretcher all right but the
reason I left America was not because I
hate America it was mostly because I
wanted to find a I want to gain a new
perspective in a new environment not out
of hate truth be told the strongest
feeling I have for
America at that point that I was
conscious of was disappointment but this
cult oh this feeling it wasn’t
nationalism it wasn’t patriotism and it
wasn’t disappointment it was it was more
akin to the feeling you might have about
your child let’s say your child is you
know for a fact you’re challenged uh the
worst bully in the school right beats
the crap out of the boys on the jitter
on a regular and he grabs the girls by
their private parts and he throws
history books at the teachers and you
know he’s he steals anything he’s a nail
down he’s a bad seed a bad seed but
that’s your child all right that’s your
problem child your flesh and blood and
you still hold on to this belief this
unfounded faith that someday someway
your child will grow up to be a fine and
decent human being that underneath all
that anger and hostility and racism and
bloodshed and violence underneath all
that ugliness there’s greatness and not
that make America great again greatness
but real genuine greatness just waiting
to be unleashed
so naturally naturally if someone
criticizes your child or mistreat your
child you’re gonna take issue with that
and if someone god forbid puts their
hands on your child you’re ready to go
to the mattresses right so I think it’s
safe to say that this coat though that I
unpacked it wasn’t love I wouldn’t call
it love but it was definitely something
powerful and paternal and protective I
felt for America so now you got this
coat oh it’s laid out before you know
all its glory what are you gonna do with
it right if you’re a tourist you could
just ignore it you know you’re going
home next week you just ignore it but
you’re not a tourist right you are a
human being striving to build and
maintain meaningful relationships all
right you’re trying to hold a mindset
that will behoove you that will benefit
you that will position you for success
here in your new environment you’ve
immersed yourself in a new culture and a
new language this is all hard work it’s
all complicated stuff all right
fun and games are over the amusement
park is closed you playing for keeps now
all right in my case I knew I just knew
there was no way I could just traipse
through my new life here in Japan with
this volatile koto analyst with this
American chip on my shoulder because I I
had already been living here three years
prior to coming to this decision to stay
here and in that time I already got a
sense of what life is like here in Japan
alright in those three students they
were just the tip of the iceberg I knew
that here more so than in America here I
would be judged first and foremost by my
nationality and by my skin color and
that any presumptions and any
stereotypes floating around about either
would be applied to me without a second
thought so I knew that the key to my
success to thriving and surviving in
Japan was the management of this koto
that I had to make peace with the
American in me and make way for the
person I was becoming by virtue of
wrenching myself free from the
overwhelming influence that America had
over my thoughts and my feelings and my
actions to cease to be a mere American
and to become a global citizen in the
truest sense of the term which has much
more to do with what’s going on in your
heart than what it says on your passport
so let’s say you’re a student going to
start a new school or you’re you’re
moving to a new neighborhood or you’re
you’re starting a new job or like myself
you’re making a go of it in a new
country at some point all of us are
gonna find ourselves on unfamiliar turf
unfamiliar turf is is fertile territory
for koto to make an appearance now I
hope I haven’t given the impression that
koto is always bad news
it isn’t sometimes you’ll find that your
hotel has been working on your behalf
all along and if that’s the case I say
let it be but if you find that it has
been quietly undermining your efforts to
achieve your goals all along then I
isn’t it wonderful that we all have this
capacity to liberate ourselves of this
stuff all right now there’s no
one-size-fits-all way to do this all
right some people do a tree
they draw paint they were right
make music DJ some people do is
spiritually meditate pray yoga some
people find a community or cause that
inspires them it’s a very personal
journey my journey which has taken me
from teacher to blogger to author to
columnist to activists here in Japan
just to a person of some notoriety my
journey began with this thought what
kind of impact would it have on the
negative perception of blackness here in
Japan if I used my ingenuity my energy
my gifts to bring black excellence to
national attention that was the thought
I had and that thought gave me a
destination and once I had that
destination it seemed that the Lord I’ve
been lugging around all my life and lost
some of his heft and the my mind became
open to the abundance of opportunities
that the mere American me might have
misconstrued as misfortune or missed
altogether likely likely you’re
different your circumstance will be very
different than my you’re probably not an
African American living abroad shocked
to discover he has complicated feelings
about both sides of their hyphenation
and you’re probably not an a black
American raised in a hyper racialized
environment trying to temper his
sensitivity and temper his sensibilities
to an entirely new racial dynamic and
you’re probably not a person who has
come to the alarming realization that
you too are capable of prejudging human
beings based on nationality and skin
color all of which are Cotto I’ve had to
I’ve had to unpack over the past 15
years however I’m sure your Cotto is
equally complexed so whatever your
destination may be I implore you to make
sure that your luggage is suitable to
your journey and if it isn’t unpack that
Cotto and lighten your load thank you
you [Applause]
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