Even after 15 years in Japan, I cannot avoid looking like the struggling, bumbling "gaijin." You know what I mean: the gaijin who has just gotten off the plane in Japan and is struggling with several huge bags of luggage, all of it too big, none with wheels, making you look like a small elephant in a crowd of Japanese who stride like flamingos on roller skates.
The Japanese, who never seem to have any luggage, must wonder what it is that we carry in our large suitcases. It's no wonder the airport security checks are so strict. They must think there is some illegal hippopotamus trade going on.
So why is it that the Japanese never have any luggage?