But man, I really don't like Sensei. The entire time, all he does is wallow in self pity and act all high and mighty about his "experiences" when he's the worst of them all. On top of his inability to grow a pair EVER, he kept subtly talking down on women as inferior beings (I know, I know, it's a reflection of the times) when he was the most cowardly bitch out of anyone. Jesus, was the world just filled with a bunch of sensitive emo types in the early 1900s, because that's what I'm getting from the recent slew of books I've been reading. I can't deal.
I'm also starting to question whether you really can't accurately translate Japanese to English. This translation had a cold formality that I have often found in Japanese to English books, and I really don't believe that the originals were written with that tone. Every translation I'm speaking of has been done by white people, so though they may be fluent in the language, I wonder if it's just something that's culturally hard to understand as a secondhand speaker. I'd like to see a translation done by a native Japanese speaker to compare.
Despite all of these things that bothered me, this shorter story kept me decently entertained. It's weird to think how little has changed in terms of society standards ("back in my day, we worked for our money instead of having parents pay for their adult children") and human nature despite cultural differences with 101 years between.
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