[Tsuwabuki]

I think I was more often made fun of for watching Star Trek than I was for liking anything about Japan. Perhaps a few.

I have reconnected with some of the people who teased me in high school (oh dear God, it's almost time for my ten year reunion), and honestly they recognise that I'm successful and happy, that I speak a second language, that my financial situation is good... All in all, anyone who made fun of me as a teenager is unlikely to think my interest in Japan was a silly thing now, considering how much Japan has done for me. One of those same people is married to a Marine and lives in Okinawa, and we talk all the time.

Never hold a grudge. You never know when the jackasses will grow up, and when they do, you may get an apology and a contact, if not a friend.