7/23/2002: Potatoes on Tokyo highway

[BrianR]

I've been to Tokyo. Nice place to visit. Wouldn't want to live there.

That adequately describes it, yet doesn't do it justice. I've never seen so many people, in so little an area, moving so well. The overcrowding is unbelievable. Jobs: I didn't look into but from my experience there they'll be hard to come by in any meaningful way. You're a Round-eye and they are, pound-for-pound, the most prejudiced people on Earth.
If you speak Japanese well, you'll have a better time even though 90% of the poeple there speak English well enough to get by (see thread on Engrish), they do not expect you to speak their language at all and will openly make fun of you (they called me Monkey a lot). I managed to keep my legendary temper for the two weeks I was there but it was only by grace of God. I was happy to leave. I think the Japanese have engineered it that way.

Your mileage may vary.

Brian