Communication

This may seem a bit pedantic at first, but I swear I'm trying to make a point here.

See, I have slowly discovered something as I have been living here. That simple fact is: I can communicate more easily with people who are about the same age as me.

That might seem really obvious. I mean, it is usually easier to chat with people who are about your age since you shared relatively similar experiences while growing up. You lived through the same historical events at about the same ages and were exposed to the same general popular culture. But I'm not talking about other Americans. That's pretty obvious.
I have found that chatting with British people is easier when they are close to my age, and the same goes for Australians, New Zealanders, etc. Even though they may not have been exposed to the same exact MTV clips and Transformers cartoons, they were at approximately the same __ age when Nirvana came out. They know who Radiohead is. They might not have seen Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, but their lives were seriously affected by Star Wars much like mine. So, I can sit and talk with a Briton who is 26 easier than one who is 21.

But I didn't write this to explain that British people aren't aliens. The interesting thing is that I can much more easily talk to Japanese people who are about my age as well, regardless of the nearly complete lack of shared popular culture (although they still experienced Nirvana at the same time). Now, you may be willing to say that this is due to us being in generally the same place in our lives. The odd limbo that exists between college and your 'real' career may form some kind of bond that allows easier communication even across the language barrier.

But still, it's more than that. Recently, while chatting with Sumiko (the girl who invited me to drum for her band, who is 24) I realized that I could understand her Japanese more easily than older and younger people, and she seemed to understand my Japanese easier as well. Whenever I talk to my Junior High students I can do all right, but talking to someone like Sumiko or a few of the other Japanese people I've met of approximately my age is much easier. Even though his English is not as good, I can talk to Shida sensei (who is 30) easier than Mitsuzuka sensei (who is about 50 and has much better English). It's like they have a better idea of what words to use and a better grasp of how to explain things to me when I'm confused. And they seem to more easily understand my word choices. When I speak to parents, it's a bit of a strain. And one day I met three old women on my way home from Elementary and barely understood a thing they said. It was nearly a complete communication breakdown, even though they were asking me the simplest questions. And t's not just spoken Japanese. Just today I got an e-mail from a family friend in Tokyo which I could read with virtually no trouble, all in Japanese. I also received an e-mail from a teacher which had simpler content ("I can't come to your Thanksgiving party. Sorry.") yet was considerably harder to comprehend.

So why is this? Is it because they studied some English when they were in school and therefore better know how to speak Japanese to an English speaker? But then, why wouldn't Mitsuzuka sensei be easier to understand since she speaks great English? Is it because of some kind of instant psychic link forged between people of similar ages? What's going on? I have no idea. But it's fascinating eh?