Although I sometimes wish otherwise, my personality can be a little on the sarcastic side. For example, if I saw a movie that didn’t meet my expectations for some reason, I might describe it as the best movie I’d seen all year just for the sake of irony. Or if my wife praised me for helping her aunt who runs an export business and who loves having an American in the family to check her terrible English for free, I might channel Homer Simpson: “Oh, look at me! I’m making someone happy! I’m the Magical Man from Happy-Land, in a gumdrop house on Lollipop Lane!” That brand of humor doesn’t exist in Japanese at all, and when I started dating my wife we actually had to go through a period of “humor training” where she learned not to take my American sarcasm at face value. My style of wry humor naturally influences my kids, since children are constantly watching their parents and subconsciously copying them. When my son was suffering through a particularly boring lesson at his school, he remarked to his friend what an “interesting” lesson it was, and how the information they were learning was something they’d all treasure throughout their lives. His friend didn’t understand him at first, and it took several seconds for them to realize that he was making a joke, but one that was culturally alien to Japan.
