After purchasing 神の雫 I walked by a display of “drawings of dad” put up for father’s day. What did I notice the most? The large number of fathers drawn with a 5-o’clock shadow. I don’t know why this struck me. No I do - I feel sensitive to the stereotypical situation of a Japanese family: mother at home and father who is never home during the week and come weekend his children don’t know his face. It is a stereotype, not all families are like this but still…when I hear about situations supporting the stereotype I am sad.  The stubble makes me think that someone is working hard, over working. It makes me think that the only image a child has of his or her father is of an overworking man.

But I guess most of the faces are smiling. That is good. Maybe I feel a little sad when I think about family-style in Japan but I have to remember that most of the sadness is rooted in the expectations I developed for what a family should be. These children likely have different expectations and are probably (hopefully) happy in life.

Heh - and my dad had a beard so I guess we could never use stumble as a “how hard is dad working” indicator anyway.