"I feel as though I am not Japanese"

This comment, "'I feel as though I am not Japanese,' she says, because she is able to understand the English speech so well," comes from an article in the NY Times, Obama becomes Japan's English teacher , about how "President Obama's Inaugural Address" has become a huge hit among the English learning population of Japan.

It is also indicative of one of the mind viruses that infects people here, the I'm-Japanese-so-I-can't-learn-another-language virus.

She needs some positive role models, like the folks in my Tuesday night classes.