Quote Originally Posted by romanbednarek View Post
My best friend lived in Japan for about 5 years from the late 90's on. He taught English there and learned the Japanese language on the fly (I don't know how he did it but I guess that while he was teaching them English, he was learning Japanese).

He had some interesting stories about the culture there. He said that you could get some phenomenal deals on used items there. He said that it had something to do with the Shinto based beliefs that used items retained the "essence" of the original owner. In the last week I've been working on an Aria Pro II (Argent series) electric bass guitar that he bought there used for a good deal (I tightened the truss rod and set the action).

He is a bicyclist as well and mentioned that Shimano parts cost more in Japan than they did from US magazines for some odd reason even thought they were all made in Japan.

I remember when he first got back to America how he wasn't used to seeing so many overweight people (no offense, but it seems that the majority of Japanese are thin and this was a big contrast for him as well as getting used to driving on the other side of the road again even though he was only gone for part of a decade).

I just thought that I would share those comments from somebody who spent a bit of time there.
Thanks for sharing. Japan is rich with culture and is generally much healthier than many of us in the US (myself included as I have falling back into the American way too far). I don't intend to be condescending, but when I was in Japan, fish and whole grains are the staple, walking or biking was the primary mode of transportation, and while they smoke like chimneys (at least they did in the 80's) their rate of lung and other cancers was much lower than in most western cultures. It was an incredible experience living there and I'm sure your friend would agree. It's not without compromise, but an experience all the same. As for him learning Japanese, the emulsion method works best . You could learn more walking the streats for a year than you could study in university for 3 years.