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big in japan

As of 18:00 last night I'm back in Japan; as of 10:00 today I'm back in the office. As with every trip home, I'm struck by the differences between Japan and the USA. There are a number of things I want to write about, but I've not got time to go in depth, so I'll start with a list of things I didn't do in Los Angeles
  • Drink coffee at a Peet's Coffee
  • Eat breakfast or lunch at Kokomo in the Farmer's Market
  • Eat a Krispy Kreme Donut
  • Visit a comic store
  • Visit a new bookstore
  • Drink enough good, inexpensive, Californian wine
  • Visit a strip club
  • See several friends I still miss
  • Have a bad time in Los Angeles

The last is easily the most stunning revelation for me of anything else. Most LA-aware readers are probably prediciting it would have been the Krispy Kreme, but no. I actually enjoyed being in Los Angeles. Sure, it's not hard to accidentally fall into a Krispy Kreme store in Los Angeles; they've grown to be nearly as ubiquitous as Japan's Mr. Donuts (and are arguably better, dependent on your tolerance for refined sugar), but somehow I didn't get into one. O! Elusive MAPLE BAR! One day you will be mine. Yess you willll -- but enjoying LA? That's unheard of.

Maybe it was the odd way people were willing to smile and say "hello," or a willingness to think outside the proscribed societal norm (whatever that may be in SoCal). People were friendlier than I remember, traffic wasn't as horrid as I recall, and the water didn't even taste as bad as my memory insisted it used to be. It leaves me wondering how much of this is a change in LA, and how much in myself.

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