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I remember from high school history class that a key advantage we Americans had over the British during the American Revolution was that the British simply didn't know who to shoot.  The American rebels all looked like farmers, and farmers looked like nonthreatening civilians.  The British forces, on the other hand, were clad in bright red wool uniforms (“The Red Coats”), making it blatantly obvious that they were the bad guys.  They might as well have been wearing red and white target circles on their chests with sandwich-board signs proudly declaring, “We're the bad guys!  Shoot at us!”

My country hasn't really

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A week before moving to Japan I was called to jury duty.  My happiest day was calling them and telling them that I can't make it...ever.  They added a note to my “juror profile” regarding the international move, and asked me to call them when I move back to the USA.  “Yeah...sure...I'll do that,” I sarcastically replied.  And that was that.  All I had to do was move out of the country, and I was officially exempt from jury duty forever.

Wrong.

Over the next several years I was called to jury duty many times.  The summons notifications were mailed to both my old address in North Hollywood as well as my parents' address in West LA.  I was no longer a

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Recently I started working in the 800-person IT department of a large Japanese financial firm.  Being the only white boy and only native English speaker in my 30-person section, I stand out quite a bit.  I've only been here a month; however, the piquant Japanese-ness of the office permeates my very essence.  Thus, I've compiled a short list of survival tips for other Westerners finding themselves imbued with overwhelmingly Japanese coworkers.

Lie Your Ass Off
You will be asked many many times how old you are, if you have a significant other, where you're from--and in extreme examples--if you can use chopsticks.  They'll also

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The incumbent prime minister Hatoyama and his new government have been working to pass legislation that will place a 100-yen tax on each and every pack of cigarettes sold in Japan.  I was shocked this wasn't done 10 years ago.  Japan has a major problem with smoking addiction, and here are some possible reasons why:

They're Cheap
A pack of cigs cost about 300 yen ($3 US).  That's an awesome deal compared to a place like Singapore, where they are around $12 US a pack.  Most industrialized nations tax the crap out of cigarettes to promote a healthier, non-smoking population while boosting tax revenue.  As I'm sure many