that sounds like it would be a fun experience I live here in Japan and it is always interesting going off base. I work here on base and most of my coworkers are LN (local national). They all speak a little english, but some less than others. I pick up so much just from being around them. There is an older Japanese guy who works here who always comes up to me at the cash cage and says "Herro Young Rady" I'm not making fun of him!! he's so nice. Every week he changes his american tip money in for yen and he always expects me to count out his money to him in Japanese. I'm getting pretty good with the numbers since we have a lot of Japanese people who change in yen for dollars or dollars for yen. One phrase I learned really quickly was "Chowta Mawtte kudasai" (phonetic spelling) we have Japanese people who call the club rather regularly who don't speak a word of English, so i learned that that phrase meant "One moment, please." Anyway, I don't mean to highjack your thread, I just wanted to share a little bit about my experience living over here in Japan