I used to live in Japan . It was only a few years ago, so I remember it pretty well.
My dad was in the Navy and we had just moved from Virginia. (in the United States)

The first thing I noticed when we got there was the toilets . Being a kid, it's not like I had ever seen anything like them . the first thing I thought was : 'How disgusting! I have to squat down over that thing to go to the bathroom!'
It's a good thing I got used to those toilets because , even though there are some Westernized toilets in Japan, most places have the squatting kind.

We lived on Okinawa, on a Marine base, but I still got to see a lot of the culture. In school on the base, they had a culture teacher . We would dress up in kimonos , play Japanese games , cook and eat Japanese dishes , and learn about Konji.(excuse my spelling)
I also had a friend whose mother was Japanese. We would ride our bikes of base to the mall and the beach and the supermarket.

One thing that really made an impression on me was the lemon-flavored candy with the wrapper that dissolves in your mouth. It was just so cool.
I also remember getting my Encephalitis B shots . Man, that hurt!!!! I didn't know much about homelife and stuff like that until the Girl Scout 'trade-off'.
That was when a few American Girl Scouts would stay at a Japanese Girl Scout's house, and some of the Japanese girls would stay at an American girl's house.
It was so much fun!!! I stayed with Miyoko and Reiko (I'm not quite sure if I spelled their names right). That was the first time I took a Japanese bath; you know, where you shower off first and thenget in the bathtub full of steaming hot water.

I loved my stay in Japan , and I wish I could go back. The on thing I missed out on and really wanted to see was Mount Fuji! I wanted to go there so bad ,but we never had the chance.

1998/2/16