"Wakonyōsai (和魂洋才, the soul of a Japanese and the talents of a Westerner)" was a phrase once used to describe the ideal of the modern, enlightened Japanese. This perfect person supposedly combined the knowledge, logic and open-mindedness of the West with the principled restraint, sense of honor and stoicism of the Japanese samurai. The concept went out with the surrender in World War II, and in its place emerged the embracing of all things Western. But wakonyōsai has made an inconspicuous comeback in recent years.

The arasā (アラサー, around 30) generation, unencumbered by the seiyōsūhai (西洋崇拝, worship of the West) that plagued their parents and grandparents — have recognized the value of Japanese culture and aesthetics while at the same time being firmly entrenched in the Western lifestyle they've known since birth.

"Nihonjin wa kakkoii yo (Japanese people are cool)," says my wakonyōsai friend Jinpachi, who has traversed the world with little more than a sanshin (三線, Okinawan banjo-like instrument) strapped to his back and his passport stashed in a pocket of his cargo pants. In praise of himself and his fellow shinsedai (新世代, new generation) Japanese, he always says: "Oretachi wa Nihonjin ni mo gaijin ni mo narete jiyūjizai (俺たちは日本人にも外人にもなれて自由自在, We're free to be both Japanese and gaijin [foreign])."