Yoshida

I was happy to see my brother’s name on Instapundit today, although the post wasn’t in reference to him at all. It’s not the first time this Adam Yoshida was mentioned there, but Glenn Reynolds expressed some strong opinions spurred by a recent blog post, which is always significant to a blogger.
I was surprised when I first discovered the existence of another Adam T. Yoshida in this world. I mean, what are the odds on that? They even have the same middle initial! And wonder of wonders: They both have blogs! My original post on the subject is here. Both Adams left comments, which is kind of cool. It’s little things like this that make me especially grateful for the web sometimes. That single comment, just two short sentences, is record of a connection that would never have been made otherwise (my grandchildren will one day assimilate this post with their cortex implants and wonder what the hell I am talking about).
I have a natural interest in the doings of Adam Yoshida Who-Is-Not-My-Brother because of his name, which seems illogical as hell, but what can I say? I read his work online (he is fairly prolific). I am interested in what he has to say even if I don’t always agree. Is it somehow silly or wrong to feel a kind of bond or affinity (I deliberated using the word “kinship” here.) for someone just because they have the same name as you?
I think about this in the real world when I meet other Yoshidas here in Japan. First of all, this is a fairly common occurence because Yoshida has to be one of the top 25 most popular family names here (I do not remember ever having met a Yoshida, of which there are relatively few, who wasn’t somehow related to my family in the states). I had a Yoshida as a counselor at Tenri University, have met some at on the job and others just out on the street. A “warm feeling” from having a common name has always been mutual, I think, although being Japanese (and thus having experienced it more often), they are more used to it, so I may have been imagining it in some cases.