Immigration Comments

Navarette is a dillweed in general, but he knows how to get a rise out of the reader.

Useyerhead: I agree that it sucks that Spanish gets special treatment. I would require English for all legal doings, but suppose that signage is at the discretion of the locality -- their tax dollars.

In my case, I'm a native English speaker, but speak Japanese with my wife. Since I'm not white, I know that some people are probably put off when we're out and not talking in English. She can understand English well enough, so it's not an issue. Not having most people know what we're talking about is way useful =)

Incidentally, in the more metropolitan areas of Japan, most signs also have English (sometimes Chinese and Korean also). Of course, we occupied them, so that's not so strange.

YBR: I'm mixed as well, although not as resentful of being treated differently. People think what they're going to think. How you're perceived in the long term is up to you. On the other hand, I do have a CCW just in case: "minorities" in particular benefit from being armed.