The Ex-President in Japan

Near the end of our hike, one of our fellow hikers asked my cousin Kate and me if we had noticed that no one had discussed politics on the trail or during our many shared meals. We all assumed that talking about the election would be too disruptive, given that we knew close to nothing about one another. For example, I still don’t know the last name of most of the people I spent 8 days with (the exception was the retired NYT writer who let us know right from the jump). As Americans, we are really worried that learning that another American supports the other candidate will prevent us from sharing an incredible experience so we actively avoid learning about their views.

Tom, Kate, and I pooled our knowledge and decided that everyone on the hike was a Harris supporter, even the couple from Texas who seemed to have been in for-profit prison services.

As it turns out, the Americans were the only people who didn’t want to talk about our election. Japanese people really wanted to ask questions and, more importantly, give their opinions.

One night, we were sitting at an izakaya counter next to an older couple from Okinawa. The husband asked where we were from, and then said, “We’re watching your election!”

So are we, we answered.

He raised his glass and declared loudly: “I want HER!”

After we gave our hardiest agreement, he went back to his meal, his vote registered through our promise.

The following day, our guide Yoko asked if we supported Trump and when we assured her we did not, she shared that she’s only had two clients who were Trump supporters but that they wanted to tell her all about it. One man asked her, “Do you like Trump?”

She answered, “He’s an old man but I think that it’s amazing he’s so good at Twitter!”

That satisfied her client. After that, Kate and I decided that all criticism needs to be wrapped in a meaningless compliment.

Then a couple days later, we were in Tokyo, walking around outside the Imperial Palace. A different tour guide, Ayaki, noted that there’s a special guest house for visiting dignitaries like the President of the United States.

“Except your ex-president. He refused to stay there. He wanted to be at the Palace Hotel! He claimed that it was safer, but it’s not safer. The guest house is protected by the imperial police and the Tokyo police, but anyone can go in and out of the Palace Hotel. He was the first, and the last, president who refused to stay there.”

We apologized and told her that we were very embarrassed about this ex-president-who-shall-not-be-named.

“Why do people support him?! Can you explain?!”

I tried but Kate said, “No. We can’t explain it. People try but it makes no sense.”

In the next week or two, I will post a few voter guides for California people. If that ain’t you, feel free to ignore. I’ll take a look at the ballot measures and local candidates and offer some opinions. I may or may not have much more Japan content; I am not going to pretend to have any great insights into the character of a country I just visited for two weeks. Let me know if you’re curious about anything. Always happy to riff!