>>46 my post was a joke in response to "Pierre" who seems to be obsessed with finding Japanese "punx"

I don't really believe that. Don't take it seriously, okay? It's based on a really bad American stereotype.

I wonder...if someone foreign could sort of pass as Japanese looking and changed their name to something relatively normal there maybe they wouldn't stand out so much. I knew this woman named Zhen and hearing that name you realize right away that she's Chinese. I'm sure it's the same in Japan if someone has a name like Amber, or Tom. The more a person appears "normal", the more they'll be treated "normal". I just think about gays in my own country, and how as soon as someone finds out they're gay, they often have a whole different perspective on that person.

I doubt it's possible to be treated like you're born there if you aren't, but it certainly is possible to give people a better image of you, and I think that's the same just about anywhere.