Hi Tommy,

chinadragon00@yahoo.com wrote:

> Could you please update the picture gallery of Shinjuku and others
> soon?  Thank you for sharing those truly moments of Japan with us!
> It's a huge treasure for me to collect the information of Japan, my
> dream destination!  Thanks to your pics, my dream comes true!
> Honestly I watch a lot of Japan documentary video in the U.S but none
> of them could captivate the real corner of Japan like your camera can!

Thanks.

> I'm not trying to be intrusive, could you please tell me your
> origin, homeplace! I guess you are Italian or Spanish!

That info is already on my site: http://www.ag0ny.com/index.php?action=about

Until here, your message looked normal. But the rest of your email looks like you're trolling me. Excuse me if you aren't. I'll try to reply as politely as I can. If you're not trolling, please don't be offended if I say something harsh.

> How do you rate Japanese ladies (scale 0-10) in average by the time
> you stay there?  Are they comparable to the white ladies in Europe or
> North America?

Here, as anywhere else, there are ugly people, normal people and attractive people. Assigning a score to Japanese girls is just stupid. Asking if they're "comparable to white ladies" is stupid too, and racist. Go see some photos and make your own opinion (http://www.photokyo.com or http://www.gaspanic.co.jp would be good places to start looking).

> To my eyes, they look cute, but I heard some comments from others that
> Asian people are the ugliest human being in the world due to their
> slitty eyes! (Don't feel offended!)  it's just differing
> opinions!

Those others who told you this are just plain ignorant. "Asian people", you say? Think about "western people": a blue-eyed blond guy from Sweden, a mexican, a black guy from New Jersey, a normal white guy from New York, a dark-skinned girl with blonde curly hair from Greece, some tall guy from Tel-Aviv... All those are western people, yet they're all different. The same applies to "asian people". There are often striking differences between people from Japan, Thailand, China, Vietnam, Korea, Philippines, etc. Granted, all of them are black-eyed dark-haired people, but the skin color, the shape of the eyes, nose and mouth are in most cases different. Probably those "others" who told you that don't know shit about what they're talking about, and their judgement is based on the looks of the asian hookers working on the streets in front of these others' homes.

That said, it's quite an interesting fact that in Tokyo there are many americans who come here just for the girls, regardless of how much undesirable this kind of "tourism" is.

> How is the life there? comfortable and modern as in the U.S.?  How
> many years Japan is behind us Americans? Are their streets as clean as
> our precious Time Square in New York? Do people dress fashionably as
> U.S youths?  Are people there open-minded and very friendly like us
> American?

You should leave your "Proud to be an american" T-shirt at home if you plan to come to Japan. Culture shock might hit hard on you. You should really read about Japan, and *specially* about your own country. I'll address each of your questions one by one:

> How is the life there? comfortable and modern as in the U.S.?

Depends on how you define "comfortable". Certainly life is much modern here than in the USA, so I'll leave that aside. If you're talking about security on the streets, culture, employment, education, the economical situation of the country, or privacy, then life here is SO much better than in the US. If you're talking about pollution, salaries, entertainment or the standards of life in general, I guess the situation  is more or less the same. And if you were talking about the size of an apartment, work hours or commute times, Japan is a much worse place than anywhere else in the world.

> How many years Japan is behind us Americans?

You got it wrong. Japan is at least 5 years AHEAD of America, at least technologically. In social issues, Japan is also way ahead: Japanese crime rates are one of the lowest of the planet; far lower poverty rate; people are more polite, etc. It's true that there are still areas that should be improved: universities here suck (unless you have enough money to pay one of the expensive ones, like in the USA); women are still considered inferior in many companies (like in the USA); and in some cities xenophobia is evident (specially on cities with american bases).

So, considering it all (the good and bad things), I'd say that Japan is not behind, but ahead of America. I'm not qualified to give you an estimation on how many years, though.

> Are their streets as clean as our precious Time Square in New York?

Streets here are clean everywhere, not just on a plaza in the center of the city. You can of course find dirty places if you search for them, but these are not common.

> Do people dress fashionably as U.S youths?

Most salarymen dress in suits, so you'll see elegant people wherever you go. You'll find that most of young people also dress fashionably, since they have more money to spend in clothes. Of course, there are also freaks, like anywhere else, and people who just don't care about the way they dress. And unlike in the USA, nobody else cares much about how other people dress.

> Are people there open-minded and very friendly like us American?

Depends on your definition of open-mindedness and friendliness. As long as you keep your manners, people will treat you in a friendly way. If you need help and ask politely, people on the street will get out of their way to help you. Mostly everywhere in Tokyo you'll see all signs translated into English, and even the recorded voice informing you about the next station is spoken in both English and Japanese in most train and subway lines.

Of course, you'll have to keep in mind that Japan is not America, what many Americans here seem to forget. As an example, yesterday when I finished work and took the subway to go back home, three americans entered the train and sat in front of me. In the Marunouchi subway line, each train usually has rows of seats consisting in 7 individual places (see photo: http://www.ag0ny.com/display.php?i=5&db=61). Well, they sat in the middle of one of these rows, with an empty seat between each one, leaving no space for anyone else to sit there, and talking loudly between them.
Another example: three days ago, in the JR Shinjuku station, as soon as the train doors opened, two americans pushed their way inside the train without letting other people exit first.

These two examples would be meaningless if it wasn't because in the almost two years that I've been living in Japan I've seen foreigners (mostly americans) doing these and other things once and again.

I'd wrote more, but I've spent already too much time answering your message.

Regards,

--
Javi Lavandeira - http://www.ag0ny.com