[Nyororin]

I don`t think that a balance is all that hard to find... At least on the Japanese side.

I am one of the group who does not go out of my way to lower my standards for friendship just because someone is not Japanese. I don`t hold it against anyone - I really don`t care all that much. I`m not going to go out of my way to be friends with someone just because of their national/racial background. I don`t have any friends who are friends because they`re Japanese, just as I don`t have any friends who are friends because they aren`t Japanese.

On the Japanese side, the situations where you are going to be treated strangely are really extremes. The person who doesn`t give a crap about Japanese culture / customs, and stomps all over them is going to get a lot of cringes... And the opposite extreme - the people who feel that they need to wear a kimono and take traditional art classes to "fit in" are going to get raised eyebrows. You can behave "normally" - you don`t need to be one extreme or the other in this department.