<<      I prefer to follow the customes of the country I have moved to. I don't have any experience of moving to other countries outside Japan, so I can't explain exactly why I prefer to follow the other countries' customs. Instead, I want to explain about my experience inside Japan. When I entered my university, I moved to an other prefecture in my country. I lived in Tokyo, the capital of Japan until then, and I moved to Tokushima when I enterd my university. Tokushima is about 1,000 km or more away from Tokyo, if you live in outside Japan, you may think that that is very near, and I also agree with you. I can fly to Tokushima from Tokyo just in one hour. Yet, I think Tokushima and Tokyo have different customs in some sense, so we have to choose whether we follow the custom or continue to keep our own custom.      To tell the truth, when I first came to Tokushima, I didn't adopt myself to the customs or cultures in Tokushima. Tokushima is a rural area and Tokyo is a big city, so for me, life in Tokushima seemed to be boring and lacks sense. Especially, I don't adopt myself to the dialect, Tokushima-accent, they use in the region. So I continued to stick to my own accent, Tokyo-accent, for almost one year.      But now I have lived in Tokushima for almost three years, and began to think that I can't get anything if I stick to my old customs. On top of that, I begin to think that I want to master the Tokushima-accent. If I can speak as if I am a native Tokushiman, how nice is it? So I intentionally began to use Tokushima dialect when I talk. To tell the truth, my new accent does not really a Tokushima accent. I usually talk with five or six friends of mine, but only one of them is a native Tokushiman. Others are Kansai-man. If you don't live in Japan, you may not be able to understand the word, so I want to explain a little about that.      In Japan, we are divided mainly in two areas, Kanto, the east half of Japan, and Kansai, the west side of Japan. The most different thing between Kanto-man and Kansai-man is their accent. And since most of my friends are not native Tokushiman, but Kansai-man, I naturally tend to use Kansai dialect.      You might hear the proverb that, "When in Roma, do as the Romans do". This is a very famous phrase and I think it contains truth. If you move to other country, I think it means a chance you can experience other customs and cultures. So it must very enjoyable to be accustomed to the cultures of that country. I admit that your native customs or cultures are also important for you, because they must represent and construct your own characteristics or personalities. But I believe your characteristics don't such a fragile thing. Even if you adopt your self to other customs to the full, your own customs would not never be lost or collapsed. So I think it is better for us if we adopt ourselves to other customs if we live in other regions.