[llevrok]

Live and work and travel for as long as I have, here in Asia,

I was in Japan for two weeks. You know how it is. You get used to manners there very quickly.

So the flight back was through San Francisco. We unload and go into Customs. An Officer is there at the bottom of the ramp. 9mm pistol and a barking dog yelling "Have your passports ready!!". I get to the Seattle gate for the final leg home . There was some ancient hippie playing an accordian. And did so en route home on the plane.

What a culture shock!

[AmericanInTokyo]

It is like a box of chocolates. So NOT standardized. So you never know WHAT you are going to get (in terms of people exchange) when stateside. That is our culture. Therein lies the so-called "individualism".

In the span of one day, you can take one taxi and get the nicest ride possible, really fun chat and information, and take another taxi a few hours later and barely escape with your life.

In Japan, pretty much every day you know what is going to happen, and hardly anybody dishes out an crap to you as people generally dont interchange with strangers to begin with, let alone foreigners. In NY, you are liable to be panhandled to death.