[StangGuy]

In my experience there are 3 basic things that affect how you are treated by locals.
1) How long you are going to be in the area.
2) How much Japanese you speak and your willingness to use even your most basic Japanese.
3) What type of Job you have while you are there or if you are just a tourist

You are going to be a tourist, it is unescapable. Unless you go there for work you will be treated as a tourist, unless you lie about it.

You are right to think that is a different experience between living and "touristing" in Japan. I was in Hiroshima for 6 months working for my US company. I have since returned to Japan a few times and it is a very different experience during the day. The nightlife however is pretty much the same as long as you establish yourself as someone who will be in the area for awhile or have connections to locals. But being a tourist you will be treated a little differently, people will be friendly but they won't neccesarily build a friendship because they know you are going to leave soon.

Real dating is going to be a problem because you are there short term. Oftentimes the first two questions I got asked by women were "How old are you?" and "How long are in in Japan for?" Most are generally interested in a relationship but if you are only going to be there for a month they aren't going to put themselves in a position to get hurt. As far as whether they are interested in you because you are white, you won't know anymore than they will know you aren't with them because they are Japanese.

Going out can be as cheap or expensive as you want to make it. I had nights where I spent 15,000yen and there was also a week where I went out and got drunk every night and only spent 20,000yen for the whole week. 4,000 to 7,500yen covered most nights out.

I don't know why people are saying it doesn't get hot in Japan during the summer. Granted, the humidity is killer at nearly 100% from July through September but it also reaches 100 farenheit semi-regularly and it doesn't really cool off during the night.