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August 20, 2008

Comments

tokyo cowgirl

:-) <--- me because you recommended my blog, which is of course a HUGE compliment.

bob

Rest up. Hope you're back soon!

Anon, for now

Hello,
I was just having a bit of a surf when I found your blog - I had heard of your book so thought I'd have a bit of a nose.

You say that, correct me if I'm wrong, due to mental illness you lost your job when you first went to Japan. As a student of Japanese and someone who wants to come to live in Japan, the stigma that exists towards mental illness over there worries me greatly. I have bi-polar disorder and been institutionalised. I decided to email a Japanese friend recently to let her know about my condition for the first time, and suddenly she broke all contact. It worries me that this could prevent me from getting work, having friendships, etc in a country that I love. I fear that the government in Japan is looking at the hikikomori problem from too much of an economic perspective, rather than as a very serious mental-health epidemic that needs to properly addressed - and so focussing more on getting people back in full-time employment instead of cooperating with organisations who could give real emotional support, and don't treat it as weakness but as a real illness.

I look forward to hearing back from you!

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Me:

  • Gratefully, joyfully, painfully, pissedoffedly, reflectively, creatively SOBER since January 3, 2007! I have worked as a nightclub hostess, a pre-school teacher and a Japanese-English translator. Right now I am an English tutor and a non-fiction author who is trying very, very hard to become a novelist. Tokyo is home.

the book

  • BAR FLOWER: My Decadently Destructive Days and Nights as a Tokyo Nightclub Hostess, by me

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