I like the Japanese customs system better than the US. Much more friendly. When I went home for christmas, the US customs and immigration officials were kind of pushy and it seemed like they were trying to make me nervous or mess up. Which, I guess they are. Probably they are trained to act that way in hopes that while questioning someone dangerous, they will cause the questionee to slip up. But, I think that any sincerely commited terrorist would have planned for such a contingency and so they mainly serve to scare tourists.
Still, I guess there is some comfort in thinking that such people are guarding the borders–for some people anyway. I would prefer more friendly customs officials.
I have been staying with a friend in Tokyo for the past week or so. It has been nice to get a taste of Japanese home life before I move into my homestay. I am looking forward to the homestay because I think it will improve my speaking skills, which definitely need work.
It comes from my fear of risk, a fear that grows with age unless combated. I was always afraid of making social mistakes because I always felt and still feel out of my element in social situations.
Anyway, I plan to write up some of my travels in Japan later. We will see how this works out. I often make these sort of plans only to not follow through. I hope that spending money on getting this server space will provide the incentive to work on it that is not there when I tried blogging on free sites.