h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I had no idea there were so many different ways of writing something down.

It must make things very difficult.

Look forward to read more.

Bel

Yes, a fascinating account indeed

Well, the reason that hiragana exists is to make life bearable for kids for the 5-6 years it takes them to learn the 2000 basic kanji - so on train plaforms etc there'll be the name of the station in kanji for adults, hiragana for kids and romaji for foreigners (in descending order of importance, obviously).

Who are you working for, Gaijin? Is NoVacations still running? Have you fallen into the grasp of Mr Shane?

That was very interesting, thanks!

I'll get to the job later, Awix, there's a few more confusing things to figure out and, er, explain, first...

I had always thought that a high pressure high context location like Japan would be a horror to live in, if you weren´t a person who studied it academically. Sorry you are there! Please tell us more.

I feel like I'm hijacking somebody else's column here so this is the last contribution I'll make... but I found living in Tokyo absurdly stress-free. Everything there seems designed to make life easier for the locals who have a really tough time juggling work and personal etiquette. As a gai-jin you don't have to worry about getting the social niceties exactly right (the locals know you are an uncultured barbarian and make allowances) but you can still enjoy the cheap restaurants, wonderful public transport, endless museums and art galleries, etc...