Recently I was playing the new ‘Tomb Raider‘ game, and a thought struck me. I often think about reboots, what effects they have and why we have them. I think I understand them, but this latest thought made me realise that they do incredible damage to our imaginations.
Pic courtesy of marcedn on DeviantArt
I don’t want to distract my blog from its goal, but today’s topic slightly overlaps and it’s really important to me.
As some of you will know, I am an English teacher here in Japan. For various reasons, ranging from giant robots and killer earthquakes to smoke filled rooms of old men with no imagination, I’ve given my students an exciting new project. They are going to write a book on Japanese culture in English and I am going to publish it for them. Brilliant, no? They have already written their reports, it’s just up to me to stick it all together.
The important point is this: on 26th October we will start a funding drive on Indiegogo to pay for publishing and shipping costs and help us compete the project.
When you are famous you get hassled in the street by fans who want to take your photo, talk to you and scream how cool you are to your friends. When you are a foreigner in Japan you get hassled in the street by Japanese who want to take your photo, talk to you, shake your hand and scream how cool you are to their friends.
When you are famous other people are scared to talk to you. When you are a foreigner in Japan other people are scared to talk to you. They stare at you a bit funny. Kids gawp at you from car windows as their parents drive them past. Old men will stare at you like you’ve got three days of lunch stuck to your face. It’s fun. Especially if you shout “Boo!”
Recently, I was the lucky recipient of one of the first iPhone 5s. I’m not telling you this to brag, earn street cred or steal the affections of your worthless fashion conscious daughter. I didn’t even want to get it really, but my mobile phone company was being a dickwad larger than the Eiffel Tower and it was a fortuitous time to leave them for more orangey shores. That’s why I’m telling you I got the phone, my company pissed me off.
One skill, I think we will all agree, is helpful for a writer and that is the skill of observation. We have to observe the world so we can capture it in our pages. Observing even provides inspiration for words, descriptions, passages, worlds and maybe even breakfast recipes. It did for me anyway. Traveling abroad and living in a foreign culture certainly helps you develop your skills of observation.
It’s true. So many aspects of this life challenge the mind and hone the imagination by showing you aspects of life you wouldn’t normally think about.
Let’s start simply, and then I’ll crack open your little minds later. Obviously, living in a different culture exposes you to different ways of living. Some you can understand – like how Japanese eat mainly fish because that’s all they have available – and others you cannot – like how they cannot see always waiting until the last possible second to move out of the way of obstacles, be they people or otherwise, is an annoying inconvenience that has me screaming and tearing my hair out by the end of a long busy road or when transporting large items. But it’s part of how their society developed. There’s a reason. Just as there is a reason we celebrate Christmas, or anything else they don’t do (like looking where they are going). So, living abroad allows you to see examples of how life can be different and think of reasons for that and vice versa, it helps you think of reasons and extrapolate how a society might be different because of it. It’s great world building
I am looking at the purpose of Chopper
You’ve had the pleasure of searching out, or perhaps stumbling across, the web site for British author Matthew Rowe. That’s him, I mean me, up there. Don’t let the picture put you off. I’m a reasonable chap.
Although I have taken the career path of teaching English to foreign students in foreign countries and despite whatever else people may say about me, first and foremost, I am a writer. I have written novels, one of which I have published, along with an anthology of short stories with the help of the wonderful LuLu.com. You can look at them and buy them by clicking on one of the fancy buttons found throughout the site.
Or you could look for them on Amazon and save yourself some pennies. I recommend the kindle versions as they are much cheaper.
The books may be the reason you are here, and if so, I am especially happy as it means I impressed you. Hopefully you shall be further drawn into my world and then I will have another mindless slave to harvest brains from to power my zombie army… but I digress. It is also possible that you came here because of one of my randomly placed adverts that I left at great risk of repercussions from The Man. Whatever the reason, I am glad you are here; such a notion makes me practically tingle like Principal Snyder kicking Buffy out of school, as that is what I want to do. Impress you, not kick Buffy out of school, because she is fictional (sorry fellas) and therefore it would be very hard to do, not to mention the fact I would have to spend many years working myself up to be principal of an American High School.
On this site you’ll be able to find out more about me, my work and general happenings within the realms of my experience. To this end, read my blog or follow my tweets. These things and more can be found through the helpful links at the top of the page.
So enjoy your time here and keep coming back for regular updates, including what is turning out to be an almost daily blog. Yes, come back then, come back or I’ll eat your babies.*
*Threat of baby eating not to be taken literally.
All material on this site is © Matthew Rowe 2008 – 2012 , unless otherwise stated.
