Leikireiki comments

Completely agree. I have friends who are high school teachers in Japan and permanent exhaustion is commonplace among them. Another point is the culture of 'shoganai' in Japan...if you're not suffering, something must he wrong.

I loved my futon until I injured my back. Now it's too hard and I'm going back to a traditional bed.

The firebombings were of course an appalling act in a war full of atrocities. There's plenty of guilt to go around. The Allies were well aware of Japanese atrocities in their attempted conquest of Asia. Perhaps Japanese they need to be reminded about their army taking all the rice harvest out of North Vietnam in 1940 leaving a million Vietnamese to starve to death!!

Cleo, and OkinawaMike: yes,most people need reading glasses as they get older, even after Lasik, that is true for me, too.

I had it four years ago after a lifetime of wearing glasses. Best decision I ever made. Now I have incredible vision. However, for those who are considering Lasik, do your research and don't do it on the cheap. Go to the best clinic you can afford ( I spent 300,000 yen at Baptist Clinic in Kyoto.) Also, if doctors advise you that you are unsuited for the procedure, don't go ahead with it anyway. Most people who get unsatisfactory results either have disregarded professional advice or have used a cheap practitioner.

I've been living in Japan for twelve years. In all that time I can't recall ONE instance where a Japanese person said something that truly rocked my world and left me feeling more enlightened or educated. Cultural differences, I guess.

Don't get me wrong, I like Japanese people - in fact I'm very fond of them, their kindness and essential niceness - and you can be friends, but you generally have too keep it 'light.' It's generally quite hard to have meaningful conversations with Japanese because they are not encouraged to open up about themselves and express opinions. I hate to say it but they are extremely boring down the pub, so there's really not much incentive to want to get to know them that deeply.