Before I begin, I would like to clarify that this isn't a long-running project or that "long-going one" that I yammer on about every so often. In fact, this idea was conceived in March of this year, somewhat inspired by Haruki Murakami's After Dark and the film Suicide Club.
I have plans for this thing to be a short novel (about >50,000 words or so).
The story is about a young Japanese-American woman who goes to Tokyo to visit a pen-pal of hers. All her life, she grew up knowing little to nothing about her cultural heritage. Yet, she is surrounded by people who know about it (two of them being what we call "weeaboos"). So, the trip is part self-discovery. It's also about how liking a culture just for the novelty (i.e. the "how cute!" factor), to me at least, seems insulting. I don't have issues with weeaboos in general, just the ones who possess the aforementioned factor.
And the whole story takes place here.
The story is somewhat personal. I'm part German, Irish, and Cherokee; yet, I know very little about my cultural heritages. I also have a pen-pal I would love to meet one day. It just so happens that, being inspired by the Murakami novel and the film, the whole thing is set in Tokyo and it involves a Japanese-American main character.
I also blame constant viewings of this guy's vlog. Nah, I joke. He's awesome. It's great, do watch it.
To reduce confusion for those who follow my blog, I'll refer to this particular work by part of its title: Blues.
~
So far, I'm 4,000+ words into it. Yeah... I got a while to go. Plus, I don't know the main character well enough yet. I may have to work out a profile on her. Atop that, I had to buy a few tour books on Tokyo, since the likelihood of me going in the near future are slim to nothing. The Internet is a nice source, but I trust books slightly more. XD
Until next time...
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