Joseph Caron, Canada's ambassador to Japan since 2005, remembers his first day here — a Saturday in late August 1975. He stayed at the Hotel New Otani and visited Ginza, Nihonbashi and Omote-sando.
"I just felt right at home and I thought I liked it here," he says now.
What he felt that day somewhat foretold his later diplomatic career. Now on his fifth stint in Japan, he has spent 17 years here out of his 36-year career.