In this episode, we welcome back Professor Steve McCarty to reflect on his forty-plus years of teaching and living in Japan.

Over the course of the interview, McCarty shows his personality, values, and his personal philosophy on life. He describes encounters with Edwin O. Reischauer, Alan Watts, Ram Dass, Allen Ginsberg, and Donald Keene. Discussing his career as a professor, he advises navigating between assimilation and going native, consulting and negotiating to gain leeway, and remaining a professional foreigner. He applies the intercultural communication concept of public self and private self to reconcile cultural differences in an international family. He presents anecdotes at the local level of living in Japan such as community organizations and playing on baseball teams. He discusses Buddhism and avoiding inner conflict, balancing spontaneity with ethics so as not to harm others. Finally, he illustrates what makes real haiku possible in any language.

If you would like to learn more about McCarty and his work, you can access his highly cited publications on e-learning, bilingualism, language teaching, Japan, Asia, and academic life at Japanned.

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The musical outro was "INKYARA NU UTA" Remixed by Makoto Kubota. The intro was “Dubstep” by Ben Sound with my own Fist of the North Star mashup.
 
Audio footage related to the Narita Airport demonstrations and Alan Ginsberg can be found at the following: 

• 証言で紡ぐ成田空港反対闘争～「三里塚のイカロス」代島監督インタビュー   
• Ginsberg's Karma

As always, thanks for listening!

Jeff Krueger
Deep in Japan Podcast Producer
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