He's very polite, a great kid, but has failed to live up to a single Japanese internet meme:

1. can barely operate his g4 ibook
2. has not dressed up as a manga character even once
3. has no manga or interest in anime
4. cannot play the ancient game "Go" (or teach me)
5. eats tons of dairy products
6. no signs of bizarre asian porn sitting about

In general, although a nice, interesting guy, does not fulfill any of the fine "weird Japanese" stereotypes I've absorbed over the years via the interweb. If he wasn't so darn polite we'd send him back.

Oh, he used to work in a Ramen factory, so I suppose that's something.

2. and 3. restores my faith in the future of Japan. 6. Drop me an e-mail and I can fix you up ;)

Don't tell me he sucks at math, too!

So I guess he didn't show up at the airport looking like this?

I had a Japanese guy stay in my home for a few days a couple of years ago. It was a Rotary-sponsored trip he was on (I used to belong to Rotaract, a sort of junior Rotary), and unsurprisingly, he was a young sarariman. He had some funky electronic music-related gadgetry (pre-MP3 player though). He had a pop culture magazine that on page 20 (counting backwards!) had some stills from some kinda weird Asian porn. Otherwise he was totally interested in business and how he could network with American businessmen in his line of work (which I now forget, he had an actual Rotarian help him out there).

The intarweb lies!

Having been to Japan I have to keep adding to your dissillusionment, we spent two weeks activly searching for those schoolgirl underwear (including going into many many porn-stores) and only fleetingly saw what might have been some in a vending machine we passed in a bus on our way to a train station. ARGH!

so what kind of schoolgirl underwear is this? My schoolgirl underwear used to say "Monday", etc. :)

But for serious... wouldn't any kind of white cotton, frilly underwear be like schoolgirl underwear? Or is there special schoolgirl animewear?

Just wait until he drives your car into a lake. Big lake.

I knew a Japanese exchange student back in high school that not only defied all the Japanese cliches, but oddly, also was made from a hybrid tensile alloy that absorbed sunlight and turned it into biodiesel.

Man, sometimes I really Kyomi. She had the nicest smile, sitting there in the sunlight, shining bright enough to set the quad grass ablaze.

But for serious... wouldn't any kind of white cotton, frilly underwear be like schoolgirl underwear? Or is there special schoolgirl animewear?

*cough* it has to be worn by the schoolgirl first.

Awww, exchange students- we had a British exchange student in middle school. Sam. He was so cute. We had a big fight about "Z vs. Zed" while watching Power Rangers- "See," Sam said, "it IS Zed- they call him Lord ZED because he has a ZED on his HEAD!" We took him out for mexican food and he asked, "What's an enchilada?" with a cute accent. Awww, Sam.

My high school band had an exchange trip with a high school band from Litchfield, England. My friend Erika and I stayed with a family there. They kept their house extremely cold, and the shower was a mere trickle; other than that, they were lovely people. There was a big cathedral in town, and beautiful cobble stone streets. The father took us on a quest for three kings; I spotted three kings carved on an ornate wooden chair in the cathedral, much to his delight. The mom and daughter took us pub crawling in the evening (I love British pubs); I ordered a white wine and felt oh so sophisticated. They didn't know from Oreos or Robert Frost. I left them my Frost collection, and always meant to send them Oreos.

There should be exchange trips for adults.

I would totally get behind exchange trips for adults, pips. That would rock.

And it took me a long time to get used to how warm Americans keep their houses (and the frustration of living in apartment buildings where you can't control the heat!)

We hosted a couple of Brits when I was in high school and I got to go over there between 9th and 10th grade. I fell for a band geek named Luke. When I left, he gave me a copy of Diamond Dogs because he know I was a Bowie fan. I still have it.

I'm a total sucker for a British accent. Or an Irish one. Or Scottish. Welsh. Australian. Kiwi. I am an accent slut.

All the exchange students we had in high school were eastern european and very creepy.

I would totally get behind exchange trips for adults, pips.

My mothers European relatives took care of that for me. She had a second cousin her twenties who visited us during the summer. We went to the beach. She wore the first thong I ever saw. I always remember her for that.

Put out some Gundam toys, hook up a nanny-cam and observe. He will out himself as soon as no one is looking.

Last year I was in the Northwest terminal of the Detroit airport (which has many international flights) and while I was grabbing sustenance in the Chili's Too, a beautiful, stylishly dressed, mid-20s Japanese woman comes in carrying a three foot tall stuffed animal. She sets the thing in the opposite chair and orders, meanwhile I am trying not to choke. Apparently Japanese women really do love stuffed animals. I hope she didn't have to buy a seat for the thing on the way back.