The 2-Belo wrote:
 > Ernest Schaal and fj.life.in-japan is a baaaaaaaaaaad combination:
 >
 >
 >>>
 >>
 >> Gifu has certain advantages: It is small enough to get around by
 >> bike, the main park is pretty, living is cheap, the scenery is
 >> pretty. On the other hand, there really aren't that many resources
 >> for Western gaijin. According to a list posted in the city hall,
 >> there are very few gaijin from English-speaking countries (only a
 >> couple of hundred in a city of 400,000 people, most of which are
 >> either JETs or kaiwa instructors) and there are limited resources
 >> for Western gaijin.
 >
 >
 > Those are probably registered gaigin that are listed in the city
 > hall. I'm seeing just HERDS of them lately, but I suspect that
 > they're all Gifu U ruffians and not worth fussing over.
 >
I remember my shock when I saw a reggae club in the middle of nowhere
east of Himeji. Seems that there is a sizeable community of Africans 
there (I was told they were Africans) doing work in the leather 
industry. In all the time I have spent in Himeji, I don't think I ever 
saw more than a handful of blacks, and all where at the station nearest 
said reggae club.

John W.