When Gwyneth Merner asked if she could interview me for her Division 3 thesis, we struck a deal: She could talk to me if I could talk to her. Now we are in her father's home overlooking Sagami Bay, and she is getting to know what it feels like to be on the other side of the table, so to speak.
Gwyneth is in her final year at Hampshire College, near Amherst, Mass., a part of the North American continent that she describes as "idyllic and boring." Founded in the 1970s "by anarchists and hippies," the college specializes in liberal arts, allowing students freedom of study and to create their own major.
"I chose the subject of expats in Japan because my Dad no longer fits any category," she explains. "He says he's working hard at being a human being, but back home, people just think him peculiar."