“Something happened which I thought would never happen to me in Japan—get asked if I was Japanese. I was walking down the street, talking to my niece on the phone, when someone approached me and asked that question. Turns out he just wanted directions to where he was going. Maybe he heard me speak bits of English to my niece, who’s quarter French. But the only time something remotely like this ever happened was 17 years ago. I was on a tour bus in Japan with plenty of foreigners. Then someone said to me, ‘What you doing here, honey?’ Apparently to them I looked more like Chinese. I guess Japan’s changed so much in the last 20 years. It’s become more global and accepting of foreigners. However, it’s still lagging in some ways. Especially the mentality. Like when I tell people I’ve lived in different countries, they always assume it’s because of my husband. While I was in Singapore, I met European and American women with careers and a full-time husband who followed them everywhere abroad.”