Obama and Me

I'm sorry if these posts seem too negative against Japan. I don't intend to be. It's just that I tend to make not of the things that strike me as odd or funny.

Anyway the other day something interesting happened. I was getting my watch fixed, and the old woman sitting in a nearby chair struck up a conversation with me. We talked about travel to hong kong years ago, how the economy here is bad and so on. Years earlier, she had gone to Hawaii for her honeymoon. I mentioned how Barack Obama was vacationing there as we spoke. (He's just been elected and is big news.) She told me I look like him.

I've had a few people mention this, especially when I had my hair cut very short. Perhaps I'm kind of lanky like him, maybe a similar brow, and kind of a cool (as in not spasstic) demeanor, at least when I'm working. I'm much more spasstic when drinking with friends. I'm not asian so people sometimes compare me to movie stars and other famous people that people in my own country wouldn't. There are probably a lot of asian guys in the states who get told they look like Jet Li or Jackie Chan or whoever whether or not they really do.

Anyway the interesting thing is I'm not black. Not in the slightest. I'm of northern European ancestry, blue eyes and light skin. I like to go out but have to be careful about the sun. I get sunburn just looking a postcards of a beach. But I'm still flattered by the comparison, I like Obama as a professional, I voted for him, and he seems like a cool guy too.

So the interesting thing is, people say this and just leave it at that. No one says anything about the fact that we are of different races. I think it shows how much things have changed and how much he has managed to, for the most part, put the "issue" of his race aside. He is just considered a great guy and I happen to have a similar frame and facial structure as him. It seems across the board. I've had similar conversations with people of different ages, ranging from 20's to 70's. People know he's black and he's the first black president and that there is prejudice in the states (boy are people aware of that), but when it comes to Obama, he's just, well, Obama.