Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character

Feynman receives an invitation from John Wheeler to attend a conference in Japan and accepts because Japan is “mysterious” and he believes “it would be interesting to go to such a strange and wonderful country” (273). He is disappointed that the conference is held in (what he considers to be) Western-style venues. Feynman insists on staying at “Japanese-style hotels” that he read about (274). After a great deal of wrangling with the conference organizers, Feynman gets his wish. He finds the Japanese both exotically pleasing and “more advanced and civilized” on certain social issues than Westerners. Feynman finds the language barrier an unexpected challenge, though he can overcome it somewhat by always asking for specific examples when he is talking about math and science. However, the levels of subtlety in Japanese that express cultural norms of politeness and deference frustrate him, and he quits learning the language.

Feynman recalls a time when he “felt always a little behind” in matters of particle physics, and when “everybody seemed to be smart, and [he] didn’t feel [he] was keeping up” (284). Nevertheless, Feynman persists, going so far as to ask whether one of the fundamental theories his colleagues are using might be incorrect.