Category: Uncategorized

So Different, So… Otrovert?

On New Year’s Eve, a friend of mine sent me one of his rare emails, in which he told me essentially that I wasn’t an introvert at all. Translating and paraphrasing a little, he stated:

No introvert starts a new life in a foreign country, and approaches strange cultures with complete openness.

Then he proceeded to introduce a new concept, that of an “otrovert”. I did some research, and according to wikipedia:

An otrovert is someone who feels like an eternal outsider in groups, even when they are friendly and socially capable.

The Otherness Institute (founded by the researcher who coined the term) lists traits of otroverts as

  • non-belonging
  • difficulties with group or communal norms
  • free thinking
  • intense need for privacy

Hmm. Some of the traits listed (intense need for independence, internally rebellious but confrontation-averse, abhors noisy/crowded places, does not like attention) definitely fit. And interestingly, I never had a problem with public speaking or leading a group (teaching at uni or now guiding the tours), as the website suggests.

I also have no problem talking to a single person. In fact, at my concerts, I’m trying to say hi to one new person every time and take it from there. At the same time, I feel intensely awkward when I have to approach a whole group. The self-introductory “hi, I’m the new one” is the start to my worst nightmares.

So, could there be something to this? Maybe – that’s what an otrovert would say. 😉 I took the test on the website above, and I score 230/280 on the otrovert scale.

You can read more about being an otrovert on the website above. There is also the book “The Gift of Not Belonging” by Rami Kaminski who coined the term otrovert. I haven’t read it yet, so I can’t say anything about it. While most of the ratings are positive, some people say that the book lacks scientific rigour and is based on (the author’s) personal anecdotes. One person even says that this is not a new concept, just the Myers-Briggs INTJ in a new guise.

To me, it sounds definitely interesting and I will investigate further.

Out in the Cold

Today, I was giving a tour to a lovely Austrian couple. And, all morning, while we were out and about around Kiyomizudera, it was raining. Of course, now that I’m home, it stopped, but it’s too late: I’m wet and cold through and through.

So, no bigger post today, just a hot shower and then off to bed with tea and books. And Pumpkin. Well, he’ll find me on his own.

Nobel Prize for Hibakusha

The Nihon Hidankyo – short and Japanese for The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations – has been awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize after having been nominated several times before.

The organization founded on August 10, 1956 is run entirely by hibakusha, survivors of the atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Their main objective is the prevention of nuclear war and the elimination of nuclear weapons, and they are active world wide. Today, there are roughly 106,000 hibakusha still alive, from 650,000 originally recognized by the Japanese government.

Have a look around their website – the Message to the World written at the inaugural meeting is especially powerful.

And if you ever make it to Hiroshima, visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, not just the first section that talks about the bombing and history in a very detached way (the clock measuring the time since the last nuclear test notwithstanding), but also the second section depicting the impact and suffering of the victims in graphic detail. If you come out of this part without being touched to your core, you’re probably a psychopath.

Austrian Elections 2024

Last Sunday were Austrian national elections. Democracy prevailed and the current, quite unpopular government was voted out of office.

Sadly, people instead voted the right-wing FPOE to the top of the list with almost 29% of the votes. So far, that doesn’t mean they were voted into the government, but it will definitely be most difficult to get a new government. I’m not expecting anything anytime soon.

I sent in my absentee vote almost three weeks ago, and I really hope it did arrive in time (you never know…). The ballot paper I received cracked me up, have a look at the last position:

“Keine” means “none”, with the full party name translating to “none of those” (other parties.) That’s hilarious, and at the same time: why can’t we not really vote for “none of those” and just leave the seats won like that empty in the parliament?

I know that many people don’t vote or vote right-wing just to piss off the mostly center-left establishment. In my not so humble opinion: there are plenty of other parties to vote for if you’d really like to teach lessons. Hell, this time, we even had a “Beer Party” (not making this up, the candidate was actually quite interesting) on the ballot.

So, maybe this would be a valid option for those who’d rather not be stuck between a rock and a hard place. Just have a “empty” vote that would lead to empty seats and let the chips fall where they may.

Of course, the question is whether in the end the result would look the same after all, just with scaled down percentages. Then again, I always wonder what kind of work our parliamentarians are doing, really…

Maybe it’s worth a try. I mean, with all the online polls everywhere it would be easy to have such a system and see how many people are really supporting a party’s line versus how many see it as the best worst option.

Autumn Equinox

Today is the autumn equinox, which is a national holiday in Japan. Because it’s Sunday today, the actual day off will be tomorrow, but you get the idea.

While the moon has always featured prominently in Japanese art, and not just the Harvest Moon in September, the equinox as such is a bit more difficult to depict. But, thankfully, science and technology as applied by NASA come to the rescue.

Equinox September 2022