久々！

I'm back!  It's crazy how quickly life can become a blur of work, sleep, repeat.  Things have calmed down and my priorities have become  clear so I will be writing about how awesome Japan is again.

First things first - the dollar to yen is back on the rise!  Maybe in the next year you can finally trade a Benjamin for a full ichi-man.

Secondly I'd like to reiterate something.  White people suck, and so do generalizations.  Hypocrite you say? Absolutely.  Wrong?  Probably.  When I say white people I don't mean all whiteys, I mean jerk face Americans.

One thing I can't stress enough is that when you're visiting a foreign country, especially one as homogeneous (read 'afraid of immigrants') as japan, you are working against deeply engrained stereotypes.  Many Japanese don't have personal experience with foreigners, so they HAVE
to rely on stereotypes.  Whenever I pass little elementary school children in Wakayama and they stare at me for 20 minutes, it is because I'm probably the first and sexiest white person they have seen
in person.

Whether you know it or not you have a huge responsibility to not be a douche when you're representing the first gaijin for the Japanese people you come across.

Those rape prone naval folk down in Okinawa are doing a huge disservice (and generally being total dicks) to me and any other foreigner in Japan.  I have met a few Americans that say they're
Canadians in Japan because why not?  Canadians come across as less aggressive and more worldly aware, and tend to smell better than their neighbors across the pond.

I am brutally aware of the negative stereotypes that surround Americans in Japan but I think I'm doing my part to combat them.  I offer my seat to old or attractive women on the bus and train.  I use
Japanese and make as many Japanese friends as possible.  Despite America being known as a cocky, christian, obese nation, I am none of those things and I think it helps fight the stereotypes when Japanese people know that. 

Best of luck in your own crusade to prove your place of origin isn't full of jackasses!