One of the nice things about Japan is that it's exceedingly easy to meet other foreigners. With so few other options for socialization here it seems that anyone who can speak English is automatically part of the club. Now it's not exactly as though i'm saying that Japanese people aren't worth hanging out with, I really enjoy talking to most of my students and I wouldn't mind seeing them in a bar or hanging out on the weekends, I do it occasionally. It's just that since my desire to study and practice Japanese has waned since getting here, so has my guilt over not having Japanese friends. My main attempt at internationalization is at the rock climbing gym through meeting people there, but for the most part, the people who hang out at the gym won't talk to me because I suck. It's a pretty clique-y country and the fringe hobbies such as rock climbing are really so. Plus, i'm not really willing or able to play into the big affable gorilla that most Japanese seem to be looking for in their foreigners. If I had the gift of gab, i'd be a popular guy.