How knowledgeable are you about Japan?

Originally posted on 4/5/2007

Ok so I know my week in review for last week is late. I've been really busy this week. So here is an Asiaphile blog to hold you over.

When I was a freshman in high school, my school hosted a foreign exchange program and we received some Japanese student visitors. I forgot how many though. They stayed with American host families of some of the student that went to the school. I was so jealous that some kids at my school got to have a
Real Japanese person living in their house. So one of the girls in my math class brought her exchange student to the class one day. For some reason my school kept the exchange students separate from the regular students. Anyway when I met the exchange student I told her something really stupid like "I like Japan!" or "I think Japan is cool!". I can't remember my exact words but they were somewhere along those lines. I do remember trying to convince the exchange student about how much I love Japan and anime. I showed her my binder that had authentic Pokemon stickers I got from the anime store that even had Japanese writing on them. I really wanted her to translate them for me. I wanted to know what my Japanese stickers said so badly that I kept bothering that student who belonged to that girl in my math class. 

I also tried to impress my cousin's Japanese wife. My mom makes Jell-o for parties and such, but the Jell-o she makes has whipped cream mixed in with it so it has a frothy appearance. I wanted her to try it so I told her it was like pudding, but not the American or British type, the kind they eat in Japan which is more like flan. My dad was talking to her and pretending he knew a lot about Japan, but he just looked foolish. I know for a fact that I know more about Japan than he does.