Some long-term visitors to Japan choose to count the days. Others make the decision to suck every drop of juice out of the opportunity. Take Ginger Vaughn, for example. She falls most definitely into the latter category -- and all power to her facial and calf muscles!
Switch to Asahi TV's Saturday night program "SMAP Station" and look hard. She's in the backdrop of pretty girls, grinning at all the jokes and nodding agreement to everything that's said. "Basically I'm a smiling decoration, but it gives me insight to a totally different experience in Japan."
There again, in climbing one of Japan's famed "Hyakumeizan" (100 Famous Mountains), you may bump into her at the top -- and not necessarily looking her best. A quick flick through a photo album shows Ginger with a puffy face ("altitude sickness"), Ginger looking like a drowned rat ("it rained the whole climb") and Ginger iced up to the eyeballs (no comment). In compensation, there are many more where she appears to be having a ball, either in great company or happily alone.