"It's a big country," rings an oft-repeated line from a 1958 Gregory Peck-Burl Ives Western about love, honor and territory in the old West, a film appropriately titled "The Big Country."
For America is indeed a big country, and perhaps especially so from the viewpoint of the notoriously rabbit-hutched Japanese. In fact, when listing America's most attractive features, most Japanese are quick to cite its enormous physical scope.
Yet after almost three decades in the more geographically challenged of these two lands, I admit I do not feel boxed into a "bento." True, my house is so small that we can only invite small guests. Plus our neighbors are so close that when one sneezes we have to wipe our windows. Nonetheless, I have always held the impression that Japan is a big country too.