Shuro is in Japan right now and won't be back for a year. I wasn't able to say goodbye to her though. Even if we're not close, I'm sure I'll miss her. I'm happy for her since she wanted to go there, even if it's not the first time she's been there. The difference is that aside from the length of stay, her purpose of stay is that of an exchange student. I also want to visit Japan, however it would most probably be as a tourist. But first, there's the cost of going there, back here and staying there. Tokyo and (I'm not sure about the next), another Japanese city were ranked among, if not in the top 3, the top 5 cities in the whole world with the highest cost of living. If I'm not mistaken, Tokyo is at the top position.I don't know if we have what it takes for allowing me to stay there for a year even if I go there to work (as an entertainer? I don't think so). Plus there's the language barrier. Not only will I need to learn the language, I'll need to be able to read and write their 3 writing systems (hiragana, katakana and kanji). Maybe I might barely survive there without learning kanji but who knows?

As to why I'd want to visit Japan, I am fascinated with it: the landscape, the culture, etc. In fact, I want to travel to other countries for almost the same reasons. Being a fan to several anime, manga and Japanese-produced game titles adds to my eagerness of being able to go there, although I've read that these 3 things aren't as widespread to what an outsider thinks unless you're in a particular part of Tokyo. An hour stop-over there during a flight to/from the U.S. is definitely not enough!