Sometimes it's hard to believe the American that emerged, naked and naive, from Narita International Airport back in 2004 and the person writing this column are one and the same. Life in Japan has made me, unmade me and remade me. I've unpacked and sorted through all sorts of koto (generally, things without material form such as ideas and feelings), uncovering things about myself that I likely wouldn't have if I had stayed in the U.S. Some of these changes have been minor, others major, yet each represents "the Creator's hands in molding your character into the wiser, more worldly, man you are now," as my mama once told me.