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• Things expats love and hate about returning to the United States
• First China-owned luxury cruise ship sets sail
• Life in Tokyo: From surviving, to thriving
• Don't break the bank: Japan's superb cheap eats

Things expats love and hate about returning to the United States Posted: 07 Mar 2012 08:00 AM PST by Jack Boulware You've been away from home. A week, a month, or even longer. And now you're back in the United States. Does it seem a little weird? Relax, it's perfectly normal to experience a few psychological bumps upon re-entry. Here's a quick list of things to look forward to –- or not.   We may not like the numbers, but we're glad to see the units. It's great to come home to: Gallons and miles, instead of fumbling to translate into liters and kilometers. The United States is the only industrialized nation that ignores the metric system, thank you very much. But think about it -– a foot was originally the length of a human foot. Why change? It was good enough for the ancient Egyptians, right? Colonel Sanders, we missed you. The real versions of gut-bomb franchise food, instead of the overseas knockoffs that don't come close to the official recipe. How refreshing to have a real Pizza Hut pizza. Real Burger King. Real KFC. Even though it makes you sick, and strange fluid comes out your pores, it's still nice to have the real thing.   America-sized legroom. Cars, airplanes, boats, trains, buses, theaters, restaurants, your own house. It's like coming home to a luxurious biosphere designed for giants. You can stretch forever.   English-speaking natives. It's fantastic to travel and communicate with other cultures, learn a few essential phrases in the local dialect. But when you return, it's actually kind of nice to just say, "Tall Americano with three shots and two percent milk foam," without gesticulating like a bad mime.  read more

First China-owned luxury cruise ship sets sail Posted: 07 Mar 2012 12:33 AM PST by Raemin Zhang Legendary Chinese admiral Zheng He (郑和) might well approve.  A Wenzhou-based tycoon is launching mainland China's first cruise ship, and has his sights set on building up a world-class fleet. China Star's maiden voyage Billed as "the world's only six-star, twin-hull cruise ship," the 12-deck China Star (中华之星) will embark on her maiden voyage from Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour on March 8 at 2.30 p.m. The 131-meter-long, 295-ton vessel will carry 200 passengers and 200 crew on a two-day, one-night voyage around the South China Sea. According to China's state-run newspaper, Global Times (in simplified Chinese only), China Star is the only mainland-owned cruise ship.  read more

Life in Tokyo: From surviving, to thriving Posted: 06 Mar 2012 09:16 PM PST by Matt Alt Live on CNN on March 11, 2011. The quake was later upgraded to a 9.0 magnitude.You may not remember me, but I was in your home last March. Or your office, or bar, or wherever it was you were tuned into the TV on that fateful day. By pure happenstance I ended up being one of the first local faces on international television following the 3/11 earthquake. Believe me, nobody was as surprised by all of this as I was. My on-air descriptions of Tokyo's experiences coincided with the first images of the tsunami waves hitting the mainland. Watching it all happen from the midst of the media maelstrom was at turns surreal and terrifying. That Friday, we'd shaken for two minutes straight. There were scattered fatalities in the capital. Buildings were damaged. An apocalyptic fireball erupted over a Chiba oil refinery. read more

Don't break the bank: Japan's superb cheap eats Posted: 06 Mar 2012 01:55 PM PST by Robbie Swinnerton Eating on the cheap in Japan doesn't have to mean scrounging for samples on the food floors of department stores or surviving on convenience-store onigiri rice balls -- though these are time-tested options for those who find themselves cash-strapped and famished. There's plenty of great Japanese food that does not require taking out a second mortgage, if you know where to look. What applies in Tokyo generally follows in the rest of the country. First, our four general rules of thumb for eats on the cheap: 1. Location is everything Food prices reflect real estate overheads. Taking Tokyo as the first stop for most tourists, you're far more likely to find affordable fare in the blue-collar areas to the north and east of the city (such as Ikebukuro, Ueno, Senju), districts with high concentrations of students (Yoyogi, Waseda) and suburban shopping streets with old-school mom-and-pop diners. read more

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