Japan is Another Planet

It's been almost one month since I came to Japan (wow time really passes so quickly, I feel new wrinkles under my skin) and today I can officially leave my passport at home! Why? First of all if you don't have a passport with you and police would stop you (e.g. as might happen sometimes in night clubs) then you can go to jail and wait till somebody brings your ID (you can comment it on your own) but if you want to stay longer you can obtain a special ID card which is actually more reliable document than a passport (the Japanese strongly trust only their own brands). This special card is called... (fanphare sound please)   an ALIEN regestration card... yeah!!!

nothing like foreigner, newcomer or non-Japanese card... but an alien!!!

In Japanese it is called 'gaijin something' where gaijin normally is translated as foreigner but it might also mean a stranger and generally it's not a very polite term! So you might be no matter who in Japan, still you are an alien! An outside creature who came to Japan to eat all available sushi and drink as much sake as possible. On the other hand, if you come to Japan - the first cultural shock brings a question to one's head: Am I on a different planet... Somehow with all those differences that I met so far (and I had known quite a lot curiosities about the raising sun state before I came here) I can honestly say it: I am legal alien in Japan!