An Imaginary Life
I’ve never been to Japan so it’s clear to me that my Japan is a Japan of the mind. It’s strongly informed by Murakami’s dreamy portrayal of it, Robert Twigger’s too, for that matter, his Angry White Pyjamas first read when I was immersing myself in Tai Chi and reread many times since. Portrayals and clichés have made it across the world in books and films and images. My brother wrote a dissertation about the Jesuits in Japan. I asked him for a copy but I never read it - it sat quietly among my books knowing what he knew then and keeping it’s own counsel.
I have lived my whole life in the UK but that is equally imaginary. We reconstitute external realities with our lived experiences, the stories we tell ourselves and own cognitive biases. Equally, I can’t tell you what it is like to be autistic, I can only tell you what it is like to be me as well as I can and leave you to draw your own conclusions. Your idea of me will be as imaginary as my idea of myself.
