Awww, now I got you are cynical? Bad Zan. Some of that was esoteric enough that I missed it, and I don't know how walks home at night affected you and I don't know how being younger in Japan will affect me, or my life after, since I'm really in quite a different place than you were when you took Area Studies. I expect that I should be able to deal with Japan and it'll be a great experience...

I guess to me the thing about Mom is sort of like how if you got hurt because you did something bad/stupid she would be upset and maybe mad but she would forgive you and love you anyway. If you were Catholic, she has her own biases of personal experience that she might be a bit upset, but she trusts you enough to leave it up to you. I think she just hopes she raised you with values that will lead you to a different path than the one she rejected. Maybe you need to talk to her, I don't know, but she prolly won't be happy to read this in your lj...

Did that make any sense?