I live in Japan. My husband is in the Navy and we lived in Sasebo from Jan 01 through Dec 04. My son was born there. My Dad said I should tattoo his bottom with "made in Japan" (lol)What a great place to raise kids. We are back in Japan. Okinawa to be exact. We had our choice of Hawaii, Guam or Oki so we jumped on Okinawa. My husband about had to hogtie me to get me to leave the first time. And of course I spent the next three years bowing to people in the states and answering everyone with "hai". The one problem we had was my daughter was only one when we got there and because we lived in town and all her friends were Japanese that ended up being her first language. When she learned english her japanese accent was so thick we had to put her in speech therapy. The first thing we did when we got to Okinawa was race for a vending machine for canned coffee. And then it was straight out to find a good noodle shop. Okinawa is not the same as the mainland but its great too. The culture here is different than the mainland. My Okinawan friend in the states made sure I understood that it is different here. And she told me to never call them Japanese. They are Okinawan. My Okinawan friend here though explained that its really only the older generation that preferes to be called Okinawan. She considers herself Japanese and so do her friends. I love it here. Really the only problem is its such a small island. But the diving and the snorkeling is great.

Welcome sharlowsdaughter

Sounds lovely.

Some relatives of relatives live in Japan, and we see them occasionally, when they come over. Not sure which part it is, though.

I understand that in Okinawa peope are particularly healthy & long-lived.