Far, far from Connecticut

I was afraid I'd be a raving lunatic -- or something pretty close -- after nearly 23 consecutive hours of travel, but I survived the ordeal in relatively good shape.

(The travel breakdown, by the way: 2 hours from Connecticut to Detroit, 13 1/2 hours from Detroit to Osaka, and 3 hours from Osaka to Taipei. Add two hours for each layover, and there you go.)

The people here like to welcome long-lost relatives by telling them they've come home, so here I am in the motherland. As expected, the food is wonderful and amazing, and I've been happily filling myself at every opporunity. I have a lot more on this topic, but we'll get to that in a future post.

The striking thing here is the traffic -- think driving in Manhattan, then throw in a couple hundred thousand extra people on scooters, and you pretty much get the idea. Right off the bat I noticed something different here, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. They drive on the same side of the road; the traffic signs look almost identical. The drivers are a little crazy, but it's not as outrageous as I had heard. But after thinking for a bit, I realized that no one here has a pickup truck.

(There are SUVs, though, most of them of the high-end Lexus and BMW variety. A decent number of minivans, too.)

Most of the cars are Japanese; with the Europeans represented by mostly BMWs and Mercedes. (Mercedeses?) A few VWs and Volvos thrown in, too. Ford is pretty much the only U.S. make represented.

I don't know why I'm telling you this. Perhaps because I've been in the car so much lately. But I have more interesting tales ahead. Promise. But now you know where I am, so that's taken care of.