Once, on a warm Tokyo night, as we sat with drinks at a bar in Shibuya, my Japanese date asked me something I had never considered before.
¡°When you watch TV by yourself, do you laugh when there is something funny?¡±
Conversation hadn¡¯t been smooth. She was intelligent and spoke good English, yet my thoughts on Japan¡¯s foreign policy had met little response, if any.

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