Sadly, it happened to her while she was in Japan last summer. She even chased down the guy that groped her, whom turned out to be an American businessman, and started screaming at the guy first in Japanese and then in English! I bet that gave him quite a shock.

Regardless of that, she said that if/when it does happen. No one will take notice if she tries to make a scene or scream for help - even the police. I personally find it sad that Japanese culture accepts this as a normal thing. =\

As a linguist, I found it to be a rather interesting challenge to learn enough of the language to get by. I still remember the symbol for river (kawa or gawa, depending on something else that I don’t remember)–it’s two longer vertical lines with a shorter vertical line between.

As I look back on the experience, everything was certainly more difficult by a factor. I was living in Moscow during the time of my visits to Japan, so it didn’t seem that noticeable (everything, truly everything is harder in Moscow–even breathing–for reasons other than language).

Enjoy your trip and the conference. I’ll need to head to the bookstore to get your latest book.

Most Shops will take Credit Cards (but not many restaurants for some reason). When they charge your card they might ask how many times you want the payment split into. So just hold one finger up, to show them one payment! It’s true!

See you Tuesday at the conference!