In 🇺🇸, the ideal is loud and persistent: Anyone can make it if they try hard enough. It’s the language of the “self-made man,” the bootstrap, the hustle.

In 🇯🇵, the ideal is quieter, but no less powerful: We are all middle class. It’s the language of modesty, uniformity, and egalitarian pride.

I want to pick up what’s left unsaid in “hard work always pays off.”

A small experiment in questioning admissions “common sense” through fiction and mock trials.

#university #education
#japan #merit

Beneath the flicker of tired fluorescent lights, the self-taught violinist in a hand-me-down uniform keeps playing — silently, stubbornly,…