English teachers in Japan get a bum rap. Not always taken seriously as professionals, and often denied advancement opportunities in the workplace, they are seen as people over here on a lark. They get accused of taking advantage of Japanese society to earn easy money, canoodle with the locals, then go home. They even get blamed for the low level of English in Japan.
They are also often derided as âlosers,â as evidenced by the comic strip âCharisma Man.â
First featured in a Nagoya newsmagazine and later collated into a book, âCharisma Manâ tells the story of a scrawny Caucasian nebbish who escapes his job serving fast food in Canada, comes to Japan, and instantly transforms into a buff, lantern-jawed lothario, able to seduce Japanese women in a single bound.
He can defy all Japanese rules, coming out on top of any situation through charisma alone. His nemesis is Western Woman, who sees through the facade and reduces him back to nebbish status with a single glare.
To be sure, âCharisma Manâ is a hilarious series, offering home truths for people frustrated by the lack of professionalism in their colleagues, or by the disparate ways in which men and women are treated in Japanese society.
The problem is, like many comic strips about an employment sector, it stereotypes dangerously: It makes anyone in eikaiwa look like frauds, as if theyâre âfaking itâ as unqualified professionals. Unable to get a job âback homeâ in anything meaningful, theyâre merely marking time in Japan. I know several professional educators who hate the strip, because their students read it and ignorantly point at them as an example.
But there is one aspect of the âCharisma Manâ phenomenon that is little talked about: what I will call âImmigrant vs. Identity Police.â Letâs take Charisma Manâs side and suggest why he too might have been given a bum rap.
Charisma Man is initially a tragic figure. Heâs stuck in a dead-end job âback homeâ and derided for being a dud. His predicament might be his fault (due to a lack of education or motivation) or might not be (due to a lack of economic opportunity in his neighborhood). But either way, heâs depicted as a loser.
So he comes to Japan and is again stuck in a dead-end job. But this time he winds up being a âwinnerâ in some respects. He is finally getting something always denied: a modicum of respect. Earned or not, respect can be transformational in a personâs development. Charisma Man remakes his identity.
However, then come the Identity Police, be it the reader or the (rather offensive stereotype of) Western Woman. Theyâre trying to force Charisma Man back to the predestination of failure.
Thatâs unfortunate. One of the problems with the world is the lack of social mobility â the lack of opportunity for people to realize their potential, to decide their own fate, to redesign themselves as they please.
This leads to broken dreams and embittered souls. Witness the phenomenon of the hikikomori (social dropouts who canât even leave their bedrooms), or the Akihabara knifings of 2008 (where the killer was expressly sick of being part of the make-gumi, or loser class).
Well, thatâs exactly what Charisma Man did. He got out of his âburger-flipping classâ and found himself on the sweeter side of society in Japan.
Point is, why should anyone be stuck somewhere theyâre not able to make a better life for themselves?
That is the very essence of the immigrant: Someone who was dealt a bad hand in their birthplace emigrates and gets a fresh cut of the cards. If they move and provide a valued, profitable service to their new society, bully for them.
Now, of course, Charisma Man is not a template. Heâs a humorous stereotype about someone who gets what he really doesnât deserve.
But he must be viewed in the proper perspective â not as an indictment of English teaching or of teachers in general. Charisma Man is a bubble-era social parasite. He will probably not remain in Japan for good, because he has little incentive to learn about the society that is treating him so well.
Whenever somebody insinuates âYou donât really belong in Japanâ or âYouâre really a loser back home,â that person should be told: âJapan is my home and I belong here just fine. Iâm not just coasting along on charisma.â A decent job and a secure income is sufficient proof of socially acceptable services rendered.