Japan is the country that I feel most at home in. Yet, despite having arrived in 1967, and living here for the better part of the intervening 40 years, I still see myself as the odd man out in one particular aspect. I just can't "act Japanese" — if you will excuse the generalization — when it comes to this one thing.
It was brought home to me some time ago when I attended a public lecture given by a famous and highly respected cultural figure who I also happen to know personally.
Unfortunately, I found the lecture to be overlong and exceedingly lacking in meaningful content. But that is not the reason for my feeling different from the Japanese norm. Every speaker is allowed the occasional below-par performance, and I have been guilty of that more times than I wish to remember.