I have some American friends who are staying in Japan for a year, and I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to visit them. I went there from April 15 – 24, 2008, staying mainly in Kyoto, with a couple days in Tokyo.

I found Japan exotic in some ways, like with all the castles and Geisha and beckoning cats. But in other ways, it seemed they were just using common sense. I wish the U.S. could pick up some aspects of Japan.

Upon reading my eBook about Japan, Akemi Gaines at Yes to Me suggested a joint writing project. So here we go. When you’re done with this part, you can read the second half of the discussion, Comparing America and Japan, Part 2, on her blog.

Akemi: I am originally from Nagoya, Japan, and have been in the U.S. since 1995. I’m glad you liked my home country, Hunter.

Hunter: Here are some things I specifically like about Japan:

Food

Hunter:

American restaurants seem to keep making portions bigger and bigger. Do we really need Outback’s 2,900-calorie Aussie Cheese Fries appetizer? OK, that’s a bit extreme, but many Americans consume what should be almost a full day’s worth of calories in one meal. And it’s normal to us, so we don’t realize it’s excessive. We feel like we’re getting a good deal when we say “Supersize me!” The emphasis is usually on the quantity of food, instead of the quality.

I was concerned that I’d get to Japan and not be able to find any food I could eat. Boy, were those fears unfounded! The food was incredible everywhere. There was only one place where I found the food merely OK (it was basically just fried food on a stick), but other than that, it was amazing. And I don’t even like seafood, so why is sushi so good? I don’t know, but it is. And even though they’ve got all this great food, they’re not fat. I’m not sure why, though portion size is a part of it.

Akemi:

Well, there is a secret . . . I could have written the book “Japanese women don’t get fat” I guess

When I came to the US, food was one of the biggest issues, so I know what you mean. The problem is Americans just don’t pay attention to taste. All they care, it seems to me, is the numbers, like calorie and price. And this is the main reason of obesity in the US, I believe. We want to get satisfaction, so if we don’t get it from taste, we substitute it with quantity, the sheer sensation of fullness. When the food tastes good, small amount is more satisfying and we don’t need to pig out.

When more Americans become discerning to taste, restaurants will have to make good foods to win the competition. But currently, people who pay attention are called “foodie” in the U.S.

Hunter:

Yeah, foodies are really a different kind of person here. I recently attended a Guerilla Cuisine dinner in Charleston, SC, where a group of people get together for food prepared by local chefs, and the theme, menu, and location are announced at the last minute. The people were all great, but they were different…hippies and “arteests” and…well, I don’t even know the words to describe them. It seems that your typical person is not really interested in food, and that will have to change before restaurants feel pressure to improve. Even the Japanese restaurant near me doesn’t have food that tastes similar to actual Japanese food.

Akemi:

Exactly. It’s a process that takes some time. Japanese didn’t become gourmet overnight. When Americans were traveling to the West in wagons, Japanese already had restaurants and cookbooks

We really need to treat foods with more respect, rather than treating it like fuel. We are humans, not automobiles. We are entitled to enjoy foods!

Crime

Hunter:

I didn’t feel great about having to carry around a bunch of cash (since most places don’t take credit cards), but my friends said that crime is ridiculously low in Japan. When I looked it up, I saw that they weren’t kidding. Japan’s robbery rate is less than 1% of what it is in America!

They’ve done a good job of getting rid of guns, and not many people have the guts to rob someone without a gun. When I went to Tokyo Disneyland, the handout said tattoos weren’t allowed (tattoos are a sign of some criminal organizations). I guess they had a problem with the Japanese mafia hanging out on the teacups ride. But the point is that the laws and rules they’ve put in place seem to be working, though there’s some loss of individual liberty.

Akemi:

Allow me to correct one thing you said . . . Japan didn’t get rid of guns. The vast majority of Japanese never had guns. The samurais had swords, but not guns. You need a special license to carry a gun in Japan.

I agree the crime rate is so much lower in Japan. When I was in Japan, as a young woman ^_^, I usually carried more than 10,000 yen ($100) in my wallet without much thought to it. My first job in the U.S. was for a bank, and I learned we could get killed for a few hundred dollars here. Now I pay everything by credit card.

Having said this, there is a dark side in Japanese society. For example, domestic violence, including parent killing their child or vice versa, is often reported in the news, and there are probably far more hidden violence than we know. There is a culture of not releasing family shame to outsiders. Hidden violence at school is also a problem.

Hunter:

That’s funny that you’re making what I guess is a manga smiley (^_^)!

We have hidden violence and a dark side here too, sometimes in places you’d never suspect. There was a typical “all-American kid” who once lived just down the street from me, named Danny Petrole (he was all over the national news). No one had any idea that he was the head of a huge drug ring until a fellow dealer, who is now on death row, hired someone to kill him.

I have a friend who stupidly decided to intimidate someone who cut him off in traffic. They turned out to be members of a triad, and they followed him home and threatened him with knives and bumper jacks. When the cops came, they arrested my friend despite what all the witnesses were saying, because apparently the cops are afraid of the triad. And this is all happening in a quiet suburb. It’s scary to think about how much stuff is going on that we don’t know about.

Akemi:

Wow. I’ll be more careful then. I never suspected my good neighbors. . .

Kaizen

Hunter:

Kaizen simply means “improvement,” but they take it very seriously. They know that continuous incremental improvements over time lead to massive results, so they encourage experimenting with new ideas and measuring the outcome.

U.S. auto makers were slow to notice that times were changing and consumers wanted smaller cars. They kept cranking out full-size sedans because that’s what they had always done. Meanwhile, the people at Toyota responded to what consumers were saying, and by changing a little here and a little there, they became the industry leader.

I’ve worked at some companies where I saw obvious opportunities for improvement, but no one wanted to hear it. I worked at one company where they actually asked for suggestions, and people would suggest things like “stop paying millions of dollars to fired executives,” but I don’t know if any of the suggestions were even considered.

Akemi:

That’s interesting. I thought Americans were more open to accept everyone’s opinions. Why do you think American management is so closed minded?

Hunter:

I don’t know if there’s any single answer. I’ve seen higher ups not understanding technical details, or not having respect for the employees, or just wanting to do things their way, or thinking that what worked in the past would always be the best option, or being so focused on tight deadlines that there was no time to rethink things. And sometimes you might convince your boss, but they don’t want to take the idea to their boss. It can be hard to get your ideas in front of the right people.

To be fair, a lot of people will adamantly demand changes without fully understanding the reasons for the current way. But I think instead of just saying “no,” management should explain why these suggestions might not be feasible and encourage further suggestions. That builds respect and cooperation instead of resentment.

Akemi:

I agree. I think Kaizen started in the post WWII collective spirit that Japan must catch up to compete against well-established “foreign” industries. All the major cities, including their factories and transportation systems, were burned down in the war, and it was clear we had to work hard.

Now that Japanese industries are well-established themselves, I think they face the same challenge you described, “We’ve always done it this way.” thinking . . . while Americans learn the Kaizen.

Living within their means

Hunter:

I’m not sure about the current statistics, but the average savings rate is very high in Japan and basically nothing in the U.S. The U.S. as a country and many American families are practically bankrupt, yet they keep wasting more and more money. The government can bail out the irresponsible spenders, but who will bail out the government when other countries decide to stop lending us money? The Japanese are among the highest savers in the world. Why can’t we save even a fraction of what they do?

Akemi:

I’d be cautious to compare two countries’ statistics. It is very possible we may not be comparing apples to apples. Having said this, I agree U.S. economy has serious problems, and by now, many Americans are aware of this.

Japanese love saving, to the point it can be a problem. They have issues enjoying life. I think our hope lies somewhere between the American and Japanese ways of living – in the big Pacific ocean – to enjoy life while being sensible to spending. Not all good things come with price tags, you know.

Hunter:

Americans have issues enjoying life too. Someone might put on a happy face, but beyond that and their big house and their fancy car, they’re feeling the great stress of keeping up with the Joneses. I agree that moderation is good here. If you can keep your wants reasonable, it’s not so hard to afford what you need while saving for a rainy day.

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Akemi, I want to thank you for suggesting this joint writing project and taking the time to do it with me. I think it’s interesting to compare the perspectives of people from two very different backgrounds.

I also want to make sure my readers continue to Comparing America and Japan, Part 2 to read our discussion on Housing, Education, Freedom and Opportunities. Don’t miss it!

Ladies and gentlemen, today I’m very happy to release my second ebook, Memoirs of a Gaijin. It’s free as a direct PDF download (6 MB), with no opt-in required.

“Gaijin” is a Japanese word meaning “outsider.” It often refers specifically to a white person, and is now considered politically incorrect. But it’s certainly what I was.

From April 15 – 24, 2008, I visited my American friends who were spending a year in Kyoto. I learned a lot during my stay, and I felt compelled to read some books to learn even more. Japan is a fascinating country, and certainly very different from the United States.

I wrote this ebook to tell a story of Japan as seen through the eyes of an American tourist. My perspective is admittedly and intentionally biased. I’m an American, and I’m sure that castles and Geisha and kaizen are no more exotic to me than hamburgers and forks and individualism are to the Japanese. We already have official tour guides of Japan. Now we have my story too.

It’s a whopping 6 MB because of all the embedded photos, plus it has links to more than 250 exclusive photos and video clips. And don’t be intimidated by the 75 pages. It’s broken down into small sections for easy scanning. Now, read Memoirs of a Gaijin and see Japan as you’ve never seen it before.

Table of contents:

Foreword by the Author	2
How to Read this Ebook	2
Table of Contents	3
Getting There	5
My Seat Number	5
Just What You Want to Hear on a Plane	6
The Time Difference	6
Jet Lag	6
Currency Exchange	7
Getting From the Airport to Kyoto	8
An Awkward Dinner Party	10
Speaking English in Japan	11
Kids Practicing Their English	12
English Words in Japanese	13
Writing Japanese Characters	13
The Capital of Japan	14
Kyoto	15
Going to Tokyo	15
Capsule Inn Akihabara	16
Tokyo Disneyland	17
Tokyo	18
Pollen Masks	19
The Food	19
Fugu, the Deadly Blowfish	20
McDonald’s	22
Fish Market	23
Fruit	24
The Cookie Trap	25
Sake	26
Filling Up Your Glass	27
Chopsticks	28
“The World is Their Buffet”	28
Cherry Blossoms	29
Miyako Odori and Geisha	30
Tea Ceremony at the Miyako Odori	31
Geisha, Geiko, and Maiko	32
Are Geisha Prostitutes?	33
Kimono	33
Kyoto Handicraft Center	34
Swords	35
Kendo	38
Sumo	39
Castles and Temples and Shrines, Oh My!	40
Nijo Castle (Nijo-jo)	41
Ninna-ji Temple	42
Ryoanji Temple	43
Eikando Zenrin-Ji Temple	43
Hikone Castle	44
Hikonyan the Samurai Cat	45
Visiting a Different Prefecture	46
Path of Philosophy	46
Cats	47
Den-Den Daiko (Mr. Miyagi’s Drum)	48
Bikes	49
Vending Machines	50
Smoking	51
Taking off Your Shoes	52
Manga and Anime	53
The Lucky Pine Needles	54
Shinto	54
Buddhism	55
Super Mario Bros.	56
Commas In Numbers	56
Toilets	57
V for the Camera	58
Karaoke	59
The Public Eye	59
Platform Pizza	59
Obsession with Newness	60
Hair Styles for Men	60
Godzilla (Gojira)	60
Sudoku	61
No Shaking Hands	62
Kaizen	62
Toyota	63
The Girls	63
Buses	64
Technology	65
Water	65
Napkins and Toilet Paper	66
Rule of the Road	66
Crime	67
Discrimination	67
Imports	67
Mount Fuji	68
The Great Wave off Kanagawa	69
Signs	70
Getting Back	71
Why Visit Japan?	72
Further Reading	74
About the Author	75

I expected 10 Reasons Japan Is Better Than America and 10 Reasons America Is Better Than Japan to be slightly controversial, but I still didn’t understand why there were so many angry comments (some of which have been edited for language or deleted). Then I checked my stats, and found that the pro-Japan post has gotten almost 12,000 hits so far from StumbleUpon (thanks, Evelyn!). Given the traffic, it’s not surprising that some people felt the need to stick up for their country.

One of the anonymous commenters, calling himself “k,” said “No country is better than another. That’s a nationalistic and somewhat dangerous attitude…Every place has it’s good sides/bad sides…Get over the nationalism.”

I certainly agree that every country has its pluses and minuses. In fact, that was exactly the point of those two posts. But consider the statement “No country is better than another.” Are you sure about that? Are you sure you don’t think that France is better than North Korea? Or is “k” right, just like many parents say they couldn’t possibly have a favorite child?

I was comparing the U.S. and Japan in terms of things that are important to me, but of course I’m biased. I can’t really say that the U.S. is better in an objective sense. Can we ever say that one country is better than another, not just in our opinion, but on some objective scale?

On Bill Maher’s show, he once had an interesting discussion about cultural superiority. He said:

“[Jack Straw] said that he does not want to talk to women in burkhas. He said it is a visible statement of separation and difference. And, you know what? I agree with him. I think a lot of people think tolerance goes to the level of tolerating intolerance. And, to me, the burkha is a symbol of intolerance…There are countries in the world where they’re living in the 14th century. Why come to the West and maintain the burkha? It doesn’t seem to make any sense to me.”

Then Ben Affleck said:

“I don’t know. Why show up and still sing your Irish songs in Boston or bring your Italian cultural traditions? [applause] … to imply the superiority of one race or culture over another is the definition of racism.”

To which Maher responded:

“…we’re not implying that the race is superior. We’re implying that what that culture, our culture, has adopted as our mores is – is superior…Rule of law, equality of the sexes, they are superior.”

Bill Clinton once said of the U.S., “This is not a perfect society, but it is one that is stumbling in the right direction.” That implies that there’s a “right” direction to stumble towards, that some cultures are better than others. Not just different, but better.

Of course, we could argue forever about what the right direction is. Henry David Thoreau said “I have no doubt that it is part of the destiny of the human race in its gradual development to leave off the eating of animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other when they came into contact with the more civilized.” There’s plenty of room for disagreement there.

But your personal preferences aside, do you think one country can truly be superior to another? Or are all cultures equally valid?

Last time, we looked at 10 Reasons Japan Is Better Than America. But don’t worry, the good ol’ US of A still has plenty going for it. Let’s look at 10 advantages of living in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

1. Credit cards.

Visa: it’s everywhere you want to be…except in Japan. With the exception of one major tourist trap (Kyoto Handicraft Center), I didn’t see a single place in Kyoto or Tokyo that accepts credit cards. And checks are almost unheard of too, so people just use cash all the time. My friends over there even have to pay their rent in cash each month. They might as well shortcut the process and have everyone wear a sign saying “Please mug me.”

2. Water.

In the U.S., every restaurant gives you water right away and will continue to give you as much as you want. In Japan, you don’t get cold water unless you ask for it, and if you do, it will come in something the size of a Dixie cup. At one place they were nice enough to bring us a pitcher of water because they knew that Americans are weird and need water to survive. They say that Japanese people get enough water from other things, but I don’t see how. I was thirsty all the time.

3. Napkins and toilet paper.

Most Japanese restaurants don’t give you napkins, which seems especially odd in a country where it’s OK to slurp your noodles. It seems even more odd since a few places give you wet naps, which is more than you really need. And Japan has only recently begun putting toilet paper in bathrooms. (Perhaps this is another reason why they don’t shake hands.) Some companies have apparently noticed an opportunity here, and they have people standing on street corners handing out tissues with advertising on the package.

4. Affordable fruit.

Fruit is outrageously expensive in Japan. I saw some melons that cost $50 and are given as graduation presents (I’m not kidding!). Excuse me while I go eat a 15 cent banana.

5. You can do things your way.

One of the kanji characters is simply a box. But you can’t draw it however you like. First you have to draw the left side in a downward stroke, then you pick up the pen, go to the upper left, and draw across and down, then you pick up the pen, go to the bottom left, and draw across. The process is more important than the results. If there’s this much emphasis on the right way to draw a box, I can understand why my friend has to go through 24 weeks of classes to have a rudimentary understanding of how to drink tea properly.

6. Relatively little discrimination.

I won’t say that there’s no discrimination in the U.S., but there’s a lot less of it than there is in Japan. Right now we have a black man and a woman running for the Democratic presidential nomination. Granted, that’s for the first time, but it shows progress.

In Japan, they discriminate heavily by age and sex. They even discriminate against people who were born and raised in Japan, who just happen to have some Chinese or Korean blood. And they even discriminate against pure-blood Japanese, born and raised in Japan, who have ever set foot outside the country. People who leave and come back have to go to a special school to be re-Japanized, and they are never fully accepted ever again.

7. You can breathe the air.

Say what you will about the air pollution in the U.S.; at least you don’t need to wear a mask. The Japanese cut down massive numbers of trees to rebuild the country after World War II, and they planted cedar trees to replace them. When the trees pollinated thirty years later, they discovered that a fifth of the population is highly allergic to cedar. For six weeks every spring, you’ll see many people wearing masks to protect themselves from the pollen.

8. Casual clothes.

While you do see some people wearing jeans in Japan, you also see just about every guy wearing a suit to work, you see every kid wearing their school uniform, and you see women wearing their elaborate kimono. A complete kimono outfit with all the accessories can cost over $20,000, which makes a $50 melon look like the bargain of the century. Women usually need a professional kimono dresser to choose the appropriate style and help put it on, and in the past the kimono had to be taken apart into twelve separate pieces, washed, and resewn. This all seems awfully elaborate for daily life. Now that Memorial Day is here, I’m allowed to wear shorts to work on Fridays.

9. You can eat cookies the first time you’re invited to.

In Japan, if someone offers you cookies and you accept right away, you’ve branded yourself as a greedy pig. A person with a reasonable amount of self discipline will wait until the fourth time they’re asked before finally giving in. It makes me wonder when you ever get to be yourself, without putting on a facade.

10. The U.S. isn’t too proud to import foreign goods.

If another country can make something better or cheaper, the U.S. will usually be happy to buy it from them. The Japanese people think that American beef isn’t compatible with the Japanese digestive tract, and that French skis don’t work on Japanese snow. It was a bit ridiculous of us to snub France with “Freedom Fries,” but we’d never pretend that French potatoes don’t work in American stomachs.

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Japan has some wonderful aspects to their culture, but overall, I’m very happy to be an American. What about you?

After being devastated by World War II, Japan bounced back to become the world’s second largest economic power in just a few decades. Meanwhile, the U.S. went from being on top of the world to being the country everyone loves to hate. Is it possible that Japan, a country whose greatest strength was once its expertise in making miniature American flags, is now a country Americans should look up to?

I went to Japan recently to see what’s so great about it, and it does indeed have some good things going on. Without further ado, here are 10 reasons Japan is better than America.

1. The world is their buffet.

Japan is one of the most isolated countries in the world. They generally don’t care about anything that happens outside their borders. And yet, when they find that someone has something they like, they’re perfectly happy to make it their own.

They needed a language, so they borrowed Chinese, and later some words from European languages. Shinto is their native religion, but they had no problem adopting Buddhism on top of that. And Christmas seemed pretty cool too, so why not be Christian as well? They love their ancient castles, but they’re even better when you add a McDonald’s and a Starbucks nearby. Walking down the street, you might see an old woman in a traditional kimono next to a 20-something in a T-shirt that says “F*ck that.”

It doesn’t matter if different things conflict. Once they become Japanese, there is no conflict. Japan is the Borg. You will be assimilated.

2. No shaking hands.

I’m guessing the reason for not shaking hands is simply because bowing makes it unnecessary, but a pleasant side effect is that they never have to shake with someone who doesn’t wash their hands.

3. Hikonyan the samurai cat.

Hikonyan was a cat who saved a feudal lord from being struck by lightning over 400 years ago. In return for his heroism, they made him a samurai, built him a castle, gave him his own theme song and merchandise line, and dubbed him Hikonyan (which comes from Hikone, the name of the city, plus nyan, the sound a cat makes in Japanese). While he was created in 2003, they have whitewashed history to have him saving a feudal lord in 1603.

As well as still being alive well past the age of 400, he is approximately as popular now as Elvis was in the late 50s. He can’t go anywhere without being followed by legions of fans of all ages. Grown adults go nuts when he waves at them.

By the way, these fans are very well behaved. You can see in the first pic that everyone is standing where they were told to, in a wide semicircle around him. In the second pic, it’s time for him to say bye-bye, and the kids aren’t tackling him.

4. Taking your shoes off indoors.

Instead of dragging your muddy clodhoppers across the floor like a caveman, you’re invited to do the sensible thing. Kick off your shoes and relax. The floor stays clean, and sometimes they even give you slippers to wear.

5. No tax, no tips, no pennies, no nickels, no quarters.

Front and back of the only four coins the Japanese people need: ¥10 ($0.10 U.S.), ¥50 ($0.50 U.S.), ¥100 ($1 U.S.), and ¥500 ($5 U.S.). Photos by Misogi.

Taxes are always included and there’s no tipping, so the price is what it is. In spite of not using paper money until they get up to ¥1,000 ($10 U.S.), you never have to carry around a bunch of change. That’s because they’ve gotten rid of the useless coins. Pennies (¥1) and nickels (¥5) do exist, but prices are almost always a multiple of ten cents (¥10), so they don’t need them. 50 cent pieces (¥50) make up for the absence of quarters. I’m sure they would laugh at the idea of Coinstar, because their coins are actually useful.

6. The food.

Photo by jslander

It’s hard to judge American food as a whole because there’s such a huge variety, but in Japan I found that the food was almost always terrific. Sushi, chicken, beef, noodles, it’s all good. Even things that don’t seem like they’d be anything special turn out to have some combination of spices that brings your palette to life. In spite of this, they don’t have a national obesity epidemic.

When I came back to the U.S. I went to a local Japanese restaurant and had some sushi (fish on top of vinegared rice) and sashimi (just the fish). It was twice as expensive, and not half as good.

7. They’re obsessed with perfection.

The Japanese are guided by the principle of kaizen, a philosophy of continuous improvement in all aspects of life. It’s how Toyota took over the automobile industry. Every person from the CEO on down has the responsibility of improving the way they do things. They perform experiments, observe the results, and make adjustments as needed, always inching closer and closer to perfection.

Americans ask “why fix it if it ain’t broken.” They think if something’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for anyone. They think “your” and “you’re” are interchangeable, and any trivial difference is best left for Oxford academics to debate.

8. The girls.

Photo by tata_aka_T

I don’t know if this is a national law or something, but at least in Kyoto and Tokyo, you can go to any random location at any time of day, and at least half the girls there will look like supermodels. And they’re very likely to be wearing leather boots and a miniskirt…even in the snow.

9. Public transportation.

Photo by Wikipedia

Thanks to a wonderful public transportation system, many people in the cities don’t feel the need for a car. Buses run frequently between all the locations I wanted to visit in Kyoto, and for traveling greater distances, they have ultramodern trains that go as fast as 186 mph in service.

Public transportation is cheaper, safer, and better for the environment. If you’re like most Americans, the last bus you rode was a big yellow one.

10. They’re totally into technology.

Photo by angela n.

For many Japanese people, their gadgets are an extension of their body. I don’t think I was ever more than 50 feet away from a Nintendo DS. Once when I was sitting on a bus, I noticed that all four people across from me were texting on their cell phones. One of them was an old lady, and another one was texting on two phones at the same time.

Here in the good ol’ U.S.A., it wasn’t that long ago that I had to give someone personalized coaching on how to insert a floppy disk.

American car companies are proud to have some models that get more than 20 miles per gallon. The Japanese have recently built a robot that can play the trumpet. Who do you think is more likely to enslave mankind?

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Japan has its strengths, but it certainly has its weaknesses too. We’ll look at the flip side of the coin next time, and see why America is better than Japan.

I’m back from Japan, and continuing with live posts (no more “portions of this broadcast were pre-recorded”). I just wanted to quickly reflect on some recent events, and let you know what’s in the pipeline.

Blogging Developments

I’ve recently had some success on the blogging front, for several reasons but most notably because The Zen of Blogging was highlighted by Darren Rowse of ProBlogger. Before this happened, I was happy that my subscriber count had broken 40 after more than four months of blogging. Shortly after Darren’s post, it shot up to 64. Right before I left for vacation, it was at 84! But my shock was premature. When I came back from vacation, I had 205 subscribers!

I also achieved positive cash flow with Google AdSense for the first time (making enough money to pay for my domain and hosting costs). It’s not much money, but at least now it’s flowing in the right direction.

The Zen of Blogging has now been translated into Russian by Олег Сатов, and into German by Jan Tißler. Having just returned from a situation where I desperately needed a translator on many occasions, I greatly appreciate their efforts to make my ebook easily accessible to people in their countries.

Along with all the traffic came a bunch of comments and emails. I’ve responded to most of them, but not all. If I haven’t gotten back to you yet, I will soon.

For people who might think that AdSense always gives relevant ads, I just noticed that The Zen of Blogging is now showing this ad:

Meet Gay Men
No Credit Card Req’d Online Dating.
Create Profile & Send Emails Free!

Methinks their algorithm might need some tweaking.

Upcoming Posts

My 15 minutes of fame on ProBlogger has given me some things to write about, both on how I got linked and what the effects were. For those of you who are new here, while I cite specific examples in my posts, I also try to make the lessons generic. So you should find these posts useful whether or not you happen to be a fellow blogger.

I’ve been getting inquiries about what Japan was like, and I’m sure many more people are silently wondering. Since this isn’t a personal blog, I can’t just write a post about “What I Did On Vacation.” It would be too off-topic. I do have some ideas for a couple of Japan-related posts I can write, but I have so much I want to say that I decided to write an ebook about it. That way, people who aren’t interested can just ignore it, while people who are interested can get plenty of details. Since the ebook will just be a story instead of a solution to a problem, it will be free. (Note to self: stop writing free ebooks! That’s why you’re not making much money!)

One of my upcoming posts will probably include a link to all my Japan pictures, but I don’t have the pictures yet. Not being much of a photographer, I don’t even own a camera. Instead of shelling out hundreds of dollars for a digital camera that I’ll never use, I bought three disposable cameras. When I finish up the last few shots on the last camera, I’ll get them developed. My friends are also going to mail me a CD of the pictures they took.

It will take some time to get this all done, especially since I don’t believe in posting too frequently (I don’t think it’s a good deal for either you or me). So I’ll appreciate your patience as I slowly answer the questions you might have about these recent events.

A Question For You

By the way, does anyone know where I can convert my last ¥10,000 ($100 U.S.)? The currency exchange station at the airport was closed, and my bank can convert the money but they don’t recommend it because of the delay and the fees. Alternatively, what do people think about the dollar’s short term prospects against the yen?