When studying a language, it’s not uncommon to encounter a word that that’s difficult to translate on a 1-to-1 basis. One word that took me a while to pin down was 憧れる akogareru, a verb which means to respect or admire (say, a talented colleague); to be attracted to (a nervous girl preparing to confess her love to her senpai); as well as to long for or to yearn after (for example, to yearn to visit Rome in the fall). This third definition sums up how many Japanese feel about the U.S., which seems to hold a special place in their hearts as a sprawling land of freedom which they describe with the word 格好いい kakko ii, meaning “cool” or “good style.” I talked about this with Yasu while we were driving from Atlanta to Savannah, and he said, “I was personally attracted to America through its cool street culture, which was really big when I first came here. Now I feel I’ve come to the ‘real America’ and it’s really great for me.” Japanese aren’t the only ones with romantic feelings for the U.S., of course, and in my own travels while back home I’ve encountered families from Europe and elsewhere making RV trips to the various beautiful sights America has to offer, and a gang of 20 cool old dudes from Switzerland fulfilling their dream of crossing America on Harley-Davidson motorcycles. The word akogareru also describes how a lot of us feel about Japan, about making that first visit to the otaku “holy land” Akihabara or walking through the shrines and temples of Kyoto. It’s a good word, I think.
Japanese are drawn to the U.S. just as we are to Japan.
