A school friend of mine did his in Nagoya. An American I met the other day did hers somewhere in Kyushu. I was sent to central Hokkaido, where I did my one-month home stay in a tiny town called Otofukecho. I occasionally check the map to make sure it's still there. But, I have to admit, I've never been back.

I had to admit it the other day, too, when I went to talk to Kenzo Takahashi, a representative of the Labo Party group. He wasn't too disappointed to hear that the home stay his organization arranged 18 years ago for this former student of Japanese language hadn't resulted in my permanent migration to the northern isle, or even very regular correspondence.

Some home stays work out, I guess, and others don't. One thing about my 1990 trip that was a success was a four-day camp to which Labo Party bussed my fellow home-stayers and I in Kurohime, Nagano Prefecture.