I have lived in Japan for over 40 years and there are a number of things that I like about this country. They may be a little bit out of the norm , but then maybe so am I. Perhaps it was because of the 250 years of Sakoku (isolation policy), in which any poor foreigner who happened to land on Japanese shores was imprisoned or summarily murdered , but Japan has certainly developed a rather unique character . Of course, this all came to an end in 1853 . Commodore Perry liter