Apud John W. <worthj1970@yahoo.com> (fj.life.in-japan) hoc legimus:
>One reason I'm not a fan of Tokyo is that when I first went to Japan 13
>years ago I found the foreign popluation of Tokyo stuck up and
>distinctly rude, whereas outside of Tokyo it was very easy to strike up
>a conversation with someone and learn about places to visit, work,
>live, etc.

That's what I liked about living in 荒川区. While there are a lot
of forners (about 15% of the population), they're almost all
Chinese and Koreans. We palefaces were few and far between, and
shopkeepers were happy to chat in Japanese. My only 英語じゃない
experiences were when I ventured into those strange southern 
gaigin-infested parts like Roppongi and Meguro. It was always a 
relief to flee back to my 下町 comfort zone.

-- 
Jim Breen        http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/
Clayton School of Information Technology,
Monash University, VIC 3800, Australia 
ジム・ブリーン@モナシュ大学