There are many good things about being in the U.S., like being able to order a taco without getting octopus, since tako happens to be Japanese word for that marine creature. It’s nice driving for free on the freeways instead of forking over $25 or so for a trip as I do back home, and having three dozen Mexican restaurants within a ten minute drive of my house isn’t bad either. My wife is enjoying American television, from the endless reruns of CSI on cable channels to reality television like The Baby Borrowers, which seems oddly to be made in a way that a former ESL student like my wife can easily understand it. Even American TV commercials have her giggling with delight, from the ubiquitous ads for lawyers (unthinkable in Japan, where attorneys are so rare that I’ve never met one in 17 years of living in the country) to commercials for products she’s sure would be popular with housewives back home, like the Reynolds Handi-Vac bags with a device that removes the air from the bag before you freeze it. Just as Americans might be amazed at watching television in Japan with all its chaos, it’s fun for us to sit back and soak up the American TV that we don’t generally get to see.
