Despite the fact that I am now unemployed and living with my parents I am really happy to be back in the USA!

Within seconds of getting off the airplane I laid my eyes on the fattest person I had seen in six months. This lady could barely walk and she was struggling to breath after walking up some stairs. It was then that I realized I was home.

My contract is finished and I'm sick of living in Japan so I didn't sign another one.

So, you may be wondering what my final conclusion is? I don't really have one, although the emotional rollercoaster I've been riding for the last year ended with me just feeling sorry for the Japanese.

Their lives are absolute shit and they know it...but they go on with their lives and just sort of accept it. Don't believe me? I'll elaborate a little for you.

They have horrible weather! It's the hottest and the coldest place I have ever lived. Winters are VERY cold and summers are VERY hot. Apartments and most homes do not have central heating or cooling. But that does not matter anyway becuase the walls are paper thin. There is no insulation. So whatever temperature it is outside is about what it is inside.

They all work more than 50 hours a week and get two to four weeks of vacation every year, depending on seniority. But that doesnt matter. They don't use their vacation because then their coworkers will have to do their work and they feel guilty. On weekends they are to tired from the week to do anything meaningful so they just stay home. On national holidays prices for travel become very expensive so most people just stay home. Its a cycle of work and relax without anything fun. If you ask them what their hobby is they will invariably tell you its some kind of relaxing...watching TV, reading, going to hot springs or even driving. Its never a real activity becuase they dont have the time, energy, or MONEY for that.

Prices are crushing. So even if someone finds time from work to do something fun, they usually wind up doing nothing...becuase doing nothing is much cheaper. This point cannot be imphasized enough. Japanese cities are the most expensive in the world and it really does affect their lifestyle.

And then there is the culture. This is more difficult to explain. Often, when a Japanese person leaves Japan for vacation without a tour group (this is rare) they return from vacation with a sort of glow about them and say that for the first time in their life they felt free. Of course not in any political sense but free from the shackles of their society. Obligations and expectations involving work and family are absolutly debiliating. This is what academics call the "anatomy of dependence." Everybody relies on others for their survival in asian cultures...especially in Japan. There is no self-sufficiency.

So when an individual is thrown into this mix of interconnected bonds they find that they have no real freedom. Instead they have OBLIGATION. There is no concievable excape...except to fling yourself in front of a train. And many do. They have the highest suicide rate in the world. Interestingly, suicide seems to be excepted as a somewhat honorable way of getting out of obligations. In any event, dead people do not feel SHAME for letting down others. This is the most potent tool that their society has for controling people.

So, there it is. The last commentary I care to write about that experience.