Hajimemashite...
"You ought to write a book about Japan," say my friends and relatives. "I know people who've gone there for six months, written a book and made lots of money." Well heck, I was in Japan for eight and a half years. I certainly have enough material, and I'm recording it one event at a time.
There are the Japanese language slips that had me saying something truly embarrassing, the times I wound up eating an old Japanese delicacy that had six legs or more and was raw, the drunken debauch with a group of yakuza, the mangled English slogans I've seen, the varied and amusing reactions of the natives to the strange foreigner in their midst... You may have heard all these stories before.Well, beware, because I just might wax nostalgic and subject you to more of them.
This page, which was first put online in Tokyo in February of 1995, started out as a way for me to vent my frustrations and to offer tips on how to cope. It worked wonderfully for me, at least. After I wrote the Rage Page, I felt much better about riding the trains each day. Now I use this page to relive memories or sort out the gritty perspective on being a gaijin in Japan. If you've "been there" or are just interested in a closer look at this unique land and its culture, you may find something in here that informs or amuses.
So click around and witness one American's view of life in Japan.
Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu!
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Email MeJapan Page and its contents (c) Wendy Dinsmore 2004