Hey from North Carolina. I had an "Asian tour" with the U.S. Navy, but didn't get to Japan. Some of the guys I served with, in our twenties, had been stationed in Japan and loved it. My current pastor is married to a Japanese woman he met there and wants to go back to retire. My Asian travels included coastal Vietnam during the war, Subic Bay Philippines where we were provisioned and supported, Taiwan, and Hong Kong which was pretty fabulous. Your experience serves as a reminder to us all; if you quit pipes, keep a rotation of pipes and a few blends; a lot of us quit and return over the years, sometimes several times. By luck, I have the first pipe I ever bought, a Tinder Box St. Ives house pipe, probably French made, still handsome and smoking well.