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The like list: Recommendations for work and life

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I hate being sick. Over the last few days I’ve had to cancel all my plans while I slip in and out of a nagging low-grade fever. That’s why there wasn’t an Otaku Links this week.

In a rare moment of lucidity in which I sit down to write this week’s Otaku Journalist post, I don’t feel like tackling anything all that in-depth. No, let’s talk about simple, happy things. Today let me tell you about the stuff that makes my life a little easier, even when I don’t feel great.

Here’s the Otaku Journalist recommendation list, full of my favorite stuff I’ve utilized this year. Most of these are not affiliate links, which is unusual for me, but it turns out my favorite things are not products so much as services. Check them out:

Crunchyroll. Of course this fantastic streaming service gets the first shout-out of the list, because I haven’t done much for the past few days except watch One Piece. I use Crunchyroll to review airing anime, but my real guilty pleasure is watching its immense archive of super old stuff, from Super Gals! to Endless Waltz. I can’t believe Crunchyroll doesn’t pay me to recommend their service, but at $60 a year, I don’t really need them to.

One Story. I love short stories, especially those of Philip K. Dick and Flannery O’Connor, but I had a hard time finding a literary journal that I could stick with—until I found this one, which simply selects and sends you one amazing short story per month. I’ve been a member for over three years now, so I’ve spent some of my sick days re-reading some of the 50 I already have. It’s $21 for a year, but I usually renew around the holidays when it only costs $12.

Shield Security. Over the holidays, somebody in France hacked Otaku Journalist, which was inconvenient, to say the least. Then my friend (and sometimes contractor) Crimm told me about this free WordPress plugin. It allows me to use two-factor authentication with all my sites, hide and spoof my login page, and a number of other hack-proof solutions. While I still hear about hacking attempts (the plugin notifies me ASAP), none have been successful since.

Google Drive. Speaking of amazing free tools. I use this to write everything from blog posts to books and keep them all organized. I love the “suggesting” feature for when I’m editing (or being edited) and want the writer to be able to view each suggested change instead of blindly accepting it. I love the offline feature, both for helping me focus without getting distracted by Twitter and for allowing me to retain backups on my machine no matter what happens.

Poppin Softcover Notebook. There’s still no substitute for the ultimate portable writing studio—pen and paper. (Though after this many years of primarily typing, my handwriting is a cramped chicken scratch.) I do the majority of my creative writing this way, otherwise I spend too much time falling down Wikipedia holes for “research.” I used to use Moleskine notebooks, but 1) I stopped being able to find their softcover version and 2) it costs $24! This is only $9. 

Get Bullish. Jen Dziura is the kind of woman who runs a business from her cell phone while being prepped for a c-section. I find her business advice both extremely unrelatable and deeply inspiring, because if I do barely half of what Jen does, I’m still ahead of the curve. I’ve also met dozens of entrepreneurs in my city through a mutual interest in Jen’s articles, sold one of my books through her shop, and will be attending her BullCon conference in DC this year.

Bad with Money Podcast. I find the gym extremely boring. But I still want to be able to open jars by myself, so I tough it out a couple times a week with the help of some truly interesting podcasts. My favorite is Gaby Dunn’s half entertainment, half education show about money smarts and the issues with today’s financial system. Weirdly it has not only helped me become a better saver, but has helped me find cool TV shows and books to read thanks to the many entertainment industry guests Gaby has on the show.

Baggu. $10 for a friggin grocery bag? Yes, but what if I told you I bought my Baggu bags six years ago now and they still don’t need to be replaced? They’re washable, waterproof, and can be compactly folded. I keep one in my purse at all times just in case I need extra storage.

Moo cards. My Otaku Journalist business cards (front side visible here) are thick, perfectly square cardstock art. I don’t mind splurging on eye-catching cards because I usually only hand them out at anime cons and as a result have a ton left from ordering back in January 2016.

The Billfold. This is my favorite regular read. Since becoming a freelancer I’ve not only become comfortable talking about money, but honestly started to enjoy it. I love the voyeuristic pleasure of learning about how other freelancers do money. Mostly I was lured over when Nicole Dieker, the geeky writer and musician behind Hello The Future, became an editor for this site. Actually, I have my first freelance article for them going up tomorrow—about my trip to Japan!

TSA Pre. I went to Anime Boston with my friend Andrew this year. As I zipped through TSA Pre, he had to take off his belt and his shoes and eventually get a pat down like a common criminal. Don’t get me wrong—security theater is stupid and I’m old enough to remember what flying was like before 2001. But sometimes you get tired of protesting the system and just want to get to your gate before literally everyone else. This was especially easy for me to get around to because my closest airport is walking distance, but I imagine eventually everyone will have TSA Pre and it won’t be any more convenient than anything else.

Quickbooks Self-Employed. I used to manage my finances entirely through Google Sheets, which meant I had to manually type in everything I spent, saved, and earned. Every time I’d fall behind or forget something, I’d have an accounting error that would be a huge headache at the end of the month or, worse, at tax time. For $5 a month, Q S-E connects with my bank, my credit card, PayPal, and everything else so I only have to check every month if I want! (I still check near daily because old habits die hard, but it hardly needs any input from me.)

Let’s Freckle. I hate tracking time and I hate invoicing, so this is a problem I’m happy to throw money at. I turn on my timer and get to work, pausing only to switch which client I’m working for—and just hit “stop” when I’m ready to log hours. When it’s the end of the month, I can send each client an invoice of all the hours I’ve logged, which is automatically generated for me. Before Let’s Freckle, I was so bad at time tracking I’m sure I undercharged all my clients because I despised the process and was too scared to check if I’d made an error in my favor.

Spearmint Altoids. OK, this last one’s an affiliate link. When you are with me and I offer you an Altoid, it is not because your breath stinks. It’s because I assume everyone likes these as much as I do. I usually have two tins in my purse at any time, and buy them in bulk (the way drugstores do) at least twice a year. They calm my stomach, they relieve my anxiety, they do everything except make my breath smell any better. (Except temporarily? Gum is way better for breath freshening.) I really hope I feel better soon because just the idea of one of these makes my sore throat burn, and I really miss getting my fix. Better than some vices, right?

This is a sick woman’s happy post. Please contribute by posting things that make YOU happy in the comments. Let me know if we have any favorites in common, too!

Top image via this post. Really just used it because it had Altoids in it.

The Ethical Weaboo: How I justify being a Japanophile in a culturally appropriative world

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The other week I went on vacation to a Japanese ryokan in Virginia. With onsen baths and miso soup for breakfast, it had all the things I remembered from my visit to a ryokan in Japan last year. When I talked to the owners, a couple who met in Tokyo, they said the main audience for their establishment was “people who want a japanese experience without going to Japan.”

Aside from John and I, there were five other couples staying that weekend—none of whom were Japanese. Most of the other guests I talked to had recently been to Japan and missed it. One of the owners also recounted a recent visit from a newlywed couple in their early 20s who said an interest in anime inspired their visit—and they came all the way from Colorado to stay there.

John and I wore yukata, ate miso-eggplant, and lounged in our room’s tatami area. Outside, we heard the eastern bluebird in the morning and the whippoorwill at night. Never before had we experienced such a total immersion in another culture so close to home.

It wasn’t until I shared some photos online that I realized how bad this looks to other people. Western people in Japanese clothing, using Japanese culture pretty much as a vacation.

Ever since I was seven, I’ve been fascinated with Japan. Years before I saw my first anime, I loved their sushi, folktales, and garden design. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why, especially since, as a first generation American, I have a big family in Italy with its own culture and customs that I could have latched onto. It’s not that I idealize Japanese culture on a pedestal above my own—in fact, I often find to be xenophobic and close-minded. I’m not sure why I love it, and this is a conundrum that puzzles Japanese people most of all.

Anyway, I’ve always suspected that my interest in Japan is something to feel guilty about, though it wasn’t until the Internet gave me the terms to talk about it that I knew why: cultural appropriation, the act of wearing a culture that isn’t yours like a costume. I can wear a yukata on vacation and then go back to full white privilege when I get home.

Mainstream culture has come a long way in identifying and shutting down cultural appropriation. But it’s also had some missteps along the way. For example, a commenter told me I was being offensive when I tweeted that I was cooking Japanese curry in my own kitchen. As an op/ed on Everyday Feminism put it, it’s hard to tell what’s appropriation and what isn’t:

“Is meditating cultural appropriation? Is Western yoga appropriation? Is eating a burrito, cosplaying, being truly fascinated by another culture, decorating with Shoji screens, or wearing a headscarf cultural appropriation?”

On the one hand, wearing a kimono when you’re not Japanese is wearing clothing that wasn’t made for you to wear—often without the cultural background of such an item. On the other hand, Kimono sellers are literally going out of business because the western customers they once counted on now find it too offensive a practice. The concern is that people who wear kimono are engaging in “identity tourism.” The solution that most of the articles I’ve linked so far suggest is to ask people who belong to these cultures whether they’re offended, but this is also an issue, implying that your token minority friend can speak for her entire culture.

What I think helps is when cultural appropriation becomes cultural transaction.

Remember when Urban Outfitters was selling an entire line of “Navajo” accessories? The Navajo Nation sued the company, and in the end they reached a settlement—that the Navajo Nation would provide goods for Urban Outfitters to sell with decision-making authority and monetary compensation.

“The Navajo Nation is proud of its strong history and welcomes working in collaboration with [Urban Outfitters] and other retailers to highlight our unique culture,” Navajo President Russell Begaye said about the settlement. In other words, the Navajo Nation was eager to share its culture with whomever is interested—provided they receive due credit and compensation.

I think getting paid is a huge part of solving the problem. Appropriation can be defined as “taking something for one’s own use, typically without the owner’s permission,” or basically theft. Theft doesn’t just rob somebody of their valuables, but the authority to decide how those valuables are used. So for me, ethically indulging in my Japanophile tendencies looks a lot like Japanese people and companies getting paid. It’s the least I can do to repay them for hooking me so powerfully on their culture. I donate to the Japan-America Society of Washington DC. I take Japanese lessons from native speakers. I go to pay-at-the-door Japanese Embassy events to learn about sake, rakugo, and traditional lacquer work, so I’m learning the culture’s context at the same time that I’m compensating its artisans.

This isn’t a total solution. I can’t throw money at a problem and consider it solved. As long as I’m a guest in Japanese culture, I need to listen to Japanese people who tell me when I’m being offensive and quit it. I want to contribute to cultural appreciation, not take away from it.

Perhaps this is why this Virginia ryokan was such a complete escape. It wasn’t about me interloping on somebody else’s culture, but coming in the door of a place created for and by American Japanophiles who welcome people who appreciate the culture as much as they do. I was more than happy to part with my cash for an experience like that.

Photo of Pembroke Springs by me. See more of my vacation photos here. 

Otaku Links: All about these mecha

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Screenshot via Patlabor.

‘My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness’ and the right time to share your story

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Like many manga fans, I pre-ordered My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness (affiliate link) and devoured it as soon as it arrived. The autobiographical story of a woman struggling with depression while coming to terms with her sexuality, it’s one many people will relate to. If the purpose of your writing is to make other people feel something, this is your literary role model.

Author Kabi Nagata does not sugarcoat her darkest moments. The sort of thing I’d be too embarrassed or ashamed to share, she exposes in fine detail: an eating disorder that had her binging between shifts as a supermarket cashier, a bald spot she has on the back of her head (presumably from compulsively pulling her hair out) is bared to the world.

But the manga concludes on a high note. Nagata is taking care of herself. She’s writing the manga she’s always wanted to. And best of all, the very autobiographical comic we’re reading has gone viral, opening up new opportunities to her for the first time.

That’s not a spoiler. Even before you open the manga, the back cover accolades gush about its reception. It’s beautifully drawn, perceptive and attuned to Nagata’s moods—from melancholic to hopeful to humorously confused. You can’t do work like this when you’re down. The very fact that we’re holding this manga in our hands is Nagata’s triumph in action.

This manga’s lowest points are made bearable by this distance, too. I’d recommend this manga even to people who are in the midst of depression right now, because it never wallows in the alleged “glamour” of depression. It shows the light at the end of the tunnel.

Nagata wrote her best work at a time where she was finally able to do so. MLEL is successful in a big part because Nagata waited until she was ready—for the right time to share this story.

Jocelyne Allen’s English translation is intimate and colloquial, so the reader feels like a cooperative party in Nagata’s road to recovery. The central action of the manga—Nagata’s hiring of a female escort—is really just a vehicle to show her recovery in action. Her discovery in the bedroom (about how sex is less about having a “working crotch” and more about communication) show that she’s newly self-aware of how far she still has to go, pondering questions about human interaction and happiness she was too low to consider before.

What’s more, she didn’t ask permission to share this story. She just started drawing her manga and putting it up on the online art community Pixiv. “Don’t ask for permission” is exactly the advice I’ve been giving aspiring writers for years. Editors are vital for refining your idea, but not for instigating it—do you really think some editor you’ve never met knows your story better than you do? Only the author can decide when it’s time to share a story for the first time.

And predictably, Nagata’s decision to bypass approval worked in her favor: “… at that point, I didn’t have to push my work out into the world. The publishing world came to me,” she says in the manga. And she wouldn’t have been ready for it a moment sooner.

By the time Nagata was ready to share this personal story, she knew what she was about: “I want to write… Stuff that shakes people up. Stories about my true self!”

Despite the cute colloquialisms saying otherwise, life isn’t anything like a story. The only real beginning is when you’re born and the only real end is when you die. In the meantime, you can choose to segment bits and pieces into stories to own and share wherever you like. That’s the real triumph of My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness: our perception of Nagata’s agency. She’s framed her lowest life experiences as a transformative success story.

The only difference between a good ending and a bad one is when you choose to share it. If you’re in the middle of a rough spot, consider that perhaps you’re not at the end yet. Even if you’ve been through bad experiences, you can choose to tell your story from a high place, giving you the perspective to observe (and even laugh at) your shortcomings.

If you want to tell stories that move people, you already have the material you need in your own life experiences. It’s up to you to frame them from any position you want.

Photo by Fredrik Rubensson

Otaku Links: Forgotten fandom

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Screenshot via Gainax’s Royal Space Force: Wings of Honneamise.

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