CL <flothru@yahoo.com> wrote:

> As for your host family ... where are you headed?  For a lot of areas, 
> in Japan (as long as we're not talking a village of 300 people) 
> something typical of where you come from is usually safe ... I have used 
> Minnesota Twins, Vikings, and Timberwolves hats and T-shirts a number of 
> times in the past.  Also, my wife and I bring back wild rice and serve 
> meat and wild rice dishes to friends.  They get very good reviews. 
> There are small wild rice packages with "How to Prepare" and meal 
> instructions as well as wild rice soup kits available in a lot of malls 
> around the Twin Cities.  Wild rice goes well with chicken or pork, 
> especially.

Ah, yes. We live in San Francisco, and when my wife goes back to Japan,
one of the common gifts is wild rice, from Trader Joe's. Also
appreciated are such things as small bottles of balsamic vinegar,
red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, jellies, etc. 

It helps if they're in a fairly attractive bottle, too.

Mike