Please view the main text area of the page by skipping the main menu. The page may not be displayed properly if the JavaScript is deactivated on your browser. It was penned around 30 years after he first forged deep ties with Japanese society as he studied in Kyoto. During this time, Japan saw high economic growth, as well as globalization following the Tokyo Olympics and Japan World Exposition Osaka , and the bubble economy had just started.
It is now much less unusual than it was twenty years ago for a Japanese to have close foreign friends. Tens of thousands of Japanese have studied abroad, and others have taken advantage of opportunities to make friends with non-Japanese they have met in Japan or elsewhere. In some cases these friendships are stronger than those formed in Japan during childhood or at school, and it is by no means unheard of for Japanese to feel that their closest friends are not other Japanese but people who reside in distant parts of the world.
For such Japanese the friends are not merely gaijin foreigners but have names, and distinctive virtues and failings. They know that despite the difference in nationality, these friends are worthy of affection, generosity, and respect. Most Japanese, however, never develop such friendships.
Some find the language barrier too great to surmount, others simply never have the opportunity to go beyond casual encounters. Many seem convinced that it is useless even to try to make friends with foreigners because of the differences in culture, and Japanese society as a whole tends to emphasize the ways in which Japanese and foreigners differ, rather than the possibility of enriching one's life with friends from abroad.
Keene had written these passages in English, and their Japanese translations published in the magazine were included with them in one book. While his opening passages suggest that Japan's understanding toward and familiarity with foreigners progressed, Keene seems to have thought otherwise. For example, he writes about his experience regarding the Japanese language, as follows. It is almost always assumed, for example, that foreigners will have no comprehension of the Japanese language.
