ifignow wrote:

> I wasn't expecting much to begin with.

If you don't like the place, and probably not the people or their culture, why
would you want to start something meaningful in a three week visit?

> There was a small chance that people
> knew of satisfactory options, but I figured it wouldn't happen.

You could go to one of the matchmaking services like O-net where clients are
supposed to be serious.

> Unfortunately, Japanese culture has turned anti-intellectual -- people just
> want to become fashion designers, good karaoke singers, or whatever.  It's
> not like the past where people valued intellectual achievement and wanted to
> work hard for a living.  U.S. graduate schools are full of Chinese or Indian
> grad students who have never been in a bar in their life, and have no desire
> to.  Japanese are closer to blacks or hispanics in this regard.

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