[steven]

Real James, not to crap on the sentiment of your thread, but I've had horrible experiences in Japan with the exact opposites on everything on your list. I've met some truly horrible people along the way. It makes me appreciate the majority of people who are great even more though-- it's funny how those shitty things tend to happen when I start to take peoples' kindness for granted.

Nyororin's bit about the American dream is something I kind of feel as well. While living in the inaka kind of makes me feel like people are watching all the time, which can feel almost restrictive at times, a lot of those people are looking to help out when they can.

And I feel like we've talked about it before a little bit, but I totally agree with GoNative about the toilet seat warmers. Even growing up in Southern California there were mornings when I wish I had one... now that I experience real winters I can only imagine what life would be like without a toilet seat warmer.