This is a virtual mirror of my history with Japan: three years (except I was in the rural 'burbs for 2/3 of it), have returned to visit friends a couple times,

This is a virtual mirror of my history with Japan: three years (except I was in the rural 'burbs for 2/3 of it), have returned to visit friends a couple times, but it's always bittersweet. In fact, almost everyone I know who was there for two-plus years have told me they experience this. The one good thing about being an outsider there is people who would be guarded towards other Japanese really seem to open up if one is warm and receptive. I've had friends confide things in my they wouldn't tell their families, and I've had more than one sit-down drink with gangsters that saw me, presumably, as a novelty. It's like, "he's an outsider who's leaving soon, so why not?"