The trouble with stereotypes is the fact that they all contain an element of truth. So you can't just dismiss them out of hand as being lies, but you have to realize they are generalizations that don't necessarily apply to all the people they refer to. For instance you could say that white people are so lacking in rhythm that they can barely walk and talk at the same time, and while it will be true in a number of cases, there are white people who can keep a beat.

The use of any sweeping generalization, especially a pejorative one, is a sign of intellectual laziness reflecting an unwillingness to get to know something or somebody who is different from you. As long as we remain content to live like that, whole cultures will remain closed to us. The path of ignorance is an inviting temptation that ends up costing us more in the long run then doing the hard work of searching for the truth from the onset.

One of the more difficult societies for outsiders to get a handle on, and not just Westerners but anybody, is Japan. It is seemingly a country of serious contradictions, being not only home to one of more rigid codes of behaviour complete with hierarchies and rules for the proper means of addressing people, but also Karaoke bars, manga, and anime, as well as a penchant for making some the most degrading game shows.

It's also an incredibly insular society where no matter how long you lived there, you would still be considered an outsider if you had not been born on the islands. That's something Kit Nouveau — sometime English language teacher and full-time Irish Bar owner — is only too aware of after living in Tokyo for 12 years. Even if he were to somehow master the intricacies of the language completely, he would never be able to keep track of all the subtleties of body language and behaviour appropriate to the demands of status recognition in a conversation.

Kit is one of two central characters in Jon Courtenay Grimwood new science fiction/fantasy novel End Of The World Blues, published in Canada by Random House Canada through their Bantam Spectra imprint. Lady Neku, central character No. 2, appears to be just another 15-year-old girl dressed in the garb of a Goth girl playacting the role of dangerous assassin. ("Cos-play" is the slang name given the young men and women who indulge in these live role playing games, which usually amount to nothing more than posing and judging each other's efforts at costuming.)