Answering from home

Hello Michael, now your comment is in. Sorry for the technical censorship not intended. I will try and keep it short. I have to create a post here rather than adding to your comment because Blogger restricts the length of comments, so I feel freer to answer from home, that is here.

I bet you are "not exactly sure how to respond". You were in kindergarden, or maybe not yet on this planet when I was already here. But being here is not a qualification for sure and I agree with you as you may think this way reading this very sentence.

Yes, "tepid". Try and think about the social role of the Japan Times in the local ecosystem and the mantra of "we gaijin" that keeps at bay the large majority of foreigners in this country. It's a borderline media. It has no impact but it does have a role, channeling Western or Westernized opinions, nothing daring, ethnocentric but the cool way so that it pleases or at least makes the reader pleasantly yawn or chuckle. Channeling some  ire too,  here and there, for the sake of demonstrating freedom of speech, ire that would not get through the media that matter, the local media in Japanese that is.

We are not Chinese, Korean, Philippinos, Brazilian. We are a tiny lot and the JT caters to specific needs and play a strategic role within a microcosm where "micro" has a deep meaning. They must have The Korea Times over the straight that must play the same role. What's bad about it? Nothing. Come down to earth! What's about about you writing in this tepid newspaper? Nothing. It's a good start to make a name and a living past the JET program in Japan. Good move! Think about the next step though. A book is order I think. Amy Chavez is tepidier (is that English?), and she still delivers but you have to leave the shores of the JT one day.

You did not claim you are master of the subject indeed, but it doesn't need claim to set yourself as a master. As a few oldies I met years ago told me when coming for the first Osaka Olympics : "We talked three words of Japanese. We immediately were hired as interpreters." What is bad about pointing at this? No pun intended. Seriously. Only beginners despise gaijin talent. I was a beginner way too long. Now, I don't love them nor do I hate them. Mostly I don't care, but I understand their social role in the ecosystem. In English, that is, the English speaking world, you may bump into some criticism. Write French and nobody will dare question your mastery (slightly cynical here I reckon).

You have to understand the ecosystem because it is mightily interesting, which doesn't bare you to providing the sirup they like and need over there at the JT.

Yes, the video is fantastic to me, not what is visible but what is implicit. No cynicism here as well. It is strange how you call things fantastics and you get people suspecting you are sneering at them. I am not. You are part of the new generation of Western white gaijin here. Is it cheeky to point that you come here way much more armed compared with your ancestors of 30 years ago? It's the truth. What's uncomfortable with the truth? There is still an ecosystem here that needs new breed of gaijin to function within and deliver the dope.

"Simply avoiding debating/discussing is not likely to be a possibility". You may or may not avoid it. But most of the time, it doesn't come to you, based on experience. And when it does, people listen at your inflamed gesticulations and say "naruhodo". But then, you are still a beginner if you do it, and you have already noticed the cost of it, so it makes you no longer a beginner. Once you start thinking in terms of costs and stakes, you are an adult. I used to be a beginner for a long time. As one of your commenters wrote (I try and remember), when I want to exchange views, arguments and enjoy a little bout of rhetorics, I play this game with my gaijin (read "Western" friends). We all do, in the end. The only caricature in the video is the Western mode of discussion. The rest I don't much see as a caricature but as a brilliant summary and warning at what you are putting at stake by not taming you in the instance where you are asked your "opinion" on this or that. You are not asked your opinion, you are asked to deliver the expected show of the (Western) gaijin. That's why we seldom are in a discussion/argument mode. We are in a social play where roles are predefined.

"I completely agree with you that learning keigo and understanding why it is used in Japanese society is an important thing to do, especially in business situations, but I think you are primarily addressing the linguistic side of the problem."

Never in my life! again, this is a beginner's symptom! There are books on keigo so what's the fuss? You buy one, put it on the treadmill and experience it in real life, necktie recommended. No such book I am aware of goes deep into the why. Linguistics in terms of "applied to learning" "is about the how. The why is to be discovered over time, but I believe this learning time could be accelerated if some treaties were reverse engineering the function of keigo for instance, from a strategic point of view, and mirroring what is called politeness and savoir-vivre. This is much more a global cultural tarit than starbucks. So no, I am not into linguistics when I refer to keigo. I am into strategy. And just to give you a suggestion at specific strategy unless you are aiming at show business, get older, look older. It's a good investment I was not told bout.

Yes, more understanding is required. Over time, it is also required to move on to look at the self, the observer, in the mirror, and deconstruct the talk and stance, including what the JT stands for and the role of it and who writes in there for. Ethnocentrism is at play deeper than one might think. I am not immune to it. But I pretend to be further on when it comes to awareness.