I am in Japan and barring the early mid-life crisis that resurfaces constantly pulling my psyche toward some type of stability that constitutes the norm (not sure about actually achieving that one), things here are amazingly not that different. The culture shock I was taught to expect never reared its ugly head.

I have the feeling working somewhere takes the novelty out of being in that place to a great extent. It is not a vacation or traveling except on your days off which, like any job, are rather infrequent and must be earned. Except for the strange language that defies dictionary interpretation, I feel perhaps I have not focused enough on Japan and what people here, foreigners, see and hear and find as odd and strange in the sense we cannot quite understand the "why."

Some of these experiences do not fit into photos such as the student today who I asked why the beaches in Japan are only open two months a year (this is true-July and August). She replied quite simply because it is the rule. I followed up: "You never question the rules?" She answered, "No."