and you, you could read me anything.

[terrorcandy]

It's easy to confuse attachment to a place and people, and more subtly, to a language, with patriotism. They may overlap, but they're not the same, contrary to what flag-wavers the world over would have us believe. There are institutions that, intentionally or not, promote such confusion. International athletic competitions are enormously effective. In the 1970s I happened to be in Central Park when the leading runners for the New York City Marathon came in. To my surprise, I found myself moved, nearly to tears, to recognize a Japanese runner in the pack. Some people had rising sun flags. I had nothing to wave. Tardily and inaudibly, I cheered the runner in Japanese. Nearly a decade had passed since the Tokyo Olympics, and I was still thinking of Japanese as underdogs in the world arena. Besides, I missed speaking the language, achingly. For such a miscellany of sensations, the flag is always a convenient, and too often a deadly, simplifier.

Norma Field
In the Realm of a Dying Emperor
A Postscript on Japan Bashing
June 1992