I once had a friend with an old car that leaked oil, so that whenever he wanted to drive somewhere he had to add some to make sure he didn’t burn his engine out. But rather than be depressed about his automotive problems — or get his car fixed — he chose to take a positive view of his cool car with its “self-changing oil.” This impressed me, and I realized at that young age that each of us has the ability to choose whether we want to be positive or negative about what we face in life. Sadly, it’s common to see people in Japan being very negative about things, and while this is to be expected in a recession that’s seen Japan’s GDP drop an alarming 13%, something not seen since the “oil shocks” of the 1970s, it’s a trend I hope can be reversed. Seen from the Japanese point of view, Americans are very optimistic, and that positive spirit was immensely important to Japan in the aftermath of World War II. One of my favorite Japanese words is mae-muki (mah-eh moo-ki), which literally means “forward-facing,” and I hope to see some positive forward-facing attitudes in Japan in the future.
