“It wasn’t what is ‘best.’ I like the Japanese people and all the stuff they have access to. I grew up under communism, but there were things I liked there, too. As a kid, I really didn’t know that it could be different. I find that there are aspects of America I also like. You don’t seem as worried about how you are perceived here.”
“I only went skinny-dipping once,” I said to defend myself.
He shook his head at what he considered my foolish behavior. I got that he was over 30 and reminded him of that every now and then.
“You might be surprised by how much we worry about what others think,” I continued. “In fact, it’s an obsession with most younger people. Their whole self-worth is wrapped up in how many likes they get on social media or what their classmates say about them. As far as I can tell, the only difference between here and Japan is that Japan has more rigid rules about acceptable behavior. In America, acting out is sometimes considered cool,” I explained.
“That is why the girls in Japan all swoon over the bad boy, David A. Dawson,” he said, waving his hands over his head like a swooning teenage girl.
He was amusing sometimes.
“You ask girls here, and I’m the All-American good boy who sometimes misbehaves. I like to keep a balance. You know, the whole yin-yang thing that complements itself.”
“I see. You’re a much deeper philosopher than I first thought. Do girls really like a deep thinker?” he teased.
I bit back some witty comments about what girls liked deep.
“I think they like that I’m up for almost anything. Girls just want to have fun, after all,” I said, blatantly stealing a song title.
“When you’re my age, they just want their next husband.”
“Next?”
“Yeah, by now, they’ve been dumped by their starter husband.”
“You have to be careful that they have actually dumped, or been dumped by, their first husband, though,” I quipped.
“Sage advice,” he admitted. “What about you? Have you figured out what you plan to do after high school?”
“What you told me about chasing too many things at once makes sense. I had a scare recently when my son was abused by his caregiver.”
“Was he harmed? Is he okay?” Tsuyoshi asked, suddenly concerned.
“Yes, he’s fine. Luckily, a friend of mine arrived in the nick of time before any real damage could be done. I owe her a lot. And not only for that. She also trains me to stay in shape and helps me with my self-defense skills.”
“A woman teaches you self-defense?”
“She’s my age, actually. She is scary good, and I would be hard-pressed to protect myself if she seriously came after me.”
He just nodded as he took that in.
“She’ll be here after the first of the year. I would like to introduce you to her,” I said.
“I’d like that.”
“Anyway, to get back to what we were talking about, I’ve asked my family to help me figure out how I might consolidate or combine my various endeavors. My son being roughed-up made me realize that family is more important than anything else when I consider future plans. I need to find a way to have them in my life.”
“What about when you leave to shoot your movies next summer and fall?” Tsuyoshi asked.
“They’ll still be too young to travel all over the world with me. I couldn’t see disrupting their lives like that.”
“Like I said before, in China, I didn’t know any different. Children are more resilient than you might think. It’s not like you would put them in any physical danger,” he said, playing devil’s advocate.
“The only problem would be their mothers and mine. I would have to talk them into that before it could happen.”
“You make a good point. American women do seem too opinionated,” he allowed.
I snorted out a laugh.
“Dude. Never, ever tell them that.”
“I’m wiser than you give me credit for,” was his retort.
Most men thought they were. It’s been my experience that when men try to fool their women, those women figure out their man’s true nature sooner or later. And God help the man when that happened. All I had to do was look at my buddy Yuri as a prime example. You could quickly become dateless when word got around.
“I have some good news,” he said. “I got the role on
“Does that mean you plan to stay in the States?”
“I think so. It’s time, really. I’ve done about all I can in Japan.”
From what I’d learned from the cast, he was one of Japan’s top actors. He’d been on TV in different shows for the past twenty years. He was one of the few who had continued in the business after they’d gotten a little older. The cast all talked about what a great honor it was to work with him. He was also one of the few people our director listened to.
I’d gotten lucky with my mentors. They were all successful in what I eventually wanted to get involved in. I recognized that it was one of the reasons for my success. It was great having someone I could go to and bounce stuff off who was older, who’d already made all the mistakes I hoped to avoid. I was sure it had saved me a lot of grief. What I found was that my best mentors were my family.
