"If there's one thing I've learned from my life in Japan," I tell my wife over a pot of black coffee, "it's how to worry."
She frames me with narrow eyes. "Oh, right. You needed to learn how to worry like a fish needs to learn how to swim. You were born worrying. You can't blame that on Japan."
And just like that, we are off . . . in another his/her battle over our mixed cultures -- one that I soon worry I will lose.