Otsukare sama deshita.

Alright. I suppose it's time that we sat down and faced the facts, you and I. My blog is getting boring, isn't it? I suppose it's only natural that as my life begins to stabilize, and I am not spending every night nervous about the next day and the rest of the year to come, and my encounters with pervo Japanese boys gets stale and less jaw-droppingly shocking, my blog would begin to slow down as well. As such, I understand if you quit reading. I mean, we've had a good run, you and I.
For my part, I intend to continue my recording of this experience, and I will try to make it as entertaining as possible.
But, the honeymoon is over. When I first got here, when I would take a dump, I would be giggling and thinking "I am pooping in Japan, on a crazy Japanese toilet! This is incredible!" And now, well...pooping is just pooping, taking a shower is just taking a shower, and riding a bus is just a riding a bus. Perhaps I'm losing my American perspective. It is a possibility.
In fact, today I was speaking with S-Lan (the great friend, who is the polar opposite of L-San, remember) and another English teacher about America. And these two middle-aged women could not believe that people live in a country where guns are allowed, and in some states, carried on people's bodies into public places. In fact, S-Lan told me about a Japanese exchange student some twenty years ago, who was killed by an American with an itchy trigger finger. It was Halloween, and the Japanese student dressed up, to go out and experience his first Halloween (they celebrate here, but my understanding is that they don't really trick-or-treat or anything). I think the student his friends were looking for a houseparty, and they stepped onto someone's porch, and the old man inside told them to "Freeze!" Well...since "Freeze!" is a really obscure word, certainly not in most foreign-speakers of English's vocabulary, the Japanese kid didn't know what to do, and started to run, and he was killed on the sidewalk in front of the house.
I guess that's the kind of thing that I would just shrug off in the states, and admit the "accidents happen," but my time here has really shown me how accidents don't really have to happen, and that safety is important. And, I'm not talking about gun-control. Just a manner of thought peculiar to America, where everyone is out to take what's yours and "community" is just a another word for church. On the other hand...
It's crazy to live in a country that didn't invent punk-rock. I mean, honestly, think about it. The counter culture here has accepted the fashion and the sound (though, how many Japanese kids can understand the deep meaning in CRASS songs, or the playful irony of NOFX?), but the kids here never stood up and said "Hey, fuck you and your whole way of thinking. We're on the outside and that's fine with us, because we think you're fucking insane."
It makes me wonder if you can have both; the American rebellious streak and the drive for individuality and particular counter-cultures as well as the warm sense of community and teamwork that I see everywhere in Japan.
Well, it helped me a little to write that out, even if it didn't help you to read it. Thanks for reading, in any case.

Big up to NC.