As the token white guy around in many situations, I often notice things that no one else does. One of those things? Where I live in Shonai is extremely insular, that people from the town over are seen as different, most often in a good way though.

There is still infighting between Sakata and Tsuruoka, which actually are so close they touch each other, and these days really aren’t that different (sorry not sorry if I offend anyone by saying that). Infighting in the sense that people say things like ‘Tsuruoka has better restaurants’ or ‘Sakata has more going for it’. But they’re really very similar (amazingly, there is even infighting within Sakata).

In a way, because they’re so insular, the outsiders kind of cancel each other out and that can make it easier to become an insider (if you find that desirable of course).