Keith Watanabe * NET 2.0

Taras is from Ukraine and works alongside me at Nikko Citigroup. I've known him for two years now and in the past we would eat lunch together. Also, we've gone on a road trip to Enoshima where he brought his wife and his wife's friend along. However, in meeting such a person from the Ukraine, it's made me wish immigration laws (especially in the US) were made less strict. He comes from a rather poor country, at least where people can have a good standard of living. He's mentioned that he doesn't want to return to his native country and is quite happy in Japan. However, the big problem is that he's limited in job opportunities in Japan because he doesn't speak good Japanese and his computer skills are still growing and not yet competitive on the market. For me it's a tragedy to see someone who is so willing to learn be limited by historical barriers from having a more fulfilling life. Although Japan is a good country for someone like Taras, the problem is that the country doesn't really cater to foreigners. And he's a BIG guy so size is a major problem. I've always thought if he the opportunity of living in LA, it would be great for him because he could find a more comforting life style. The same goes true for my other coworker Vitaly. He asked about the climate of California and what a person could do. He was like, "Could you go skiing and then swimming in the same day?" I replied, "Yes." His response was, "Why did you come here then?!?!!" Yeah, I know. But to me what's painfully obvious is that someone like this could make a positive contribution to society in the states. No one thinks about the old Cold War period, nor the Iron Curtain these days. Everyone is more concerned about Iraq and Arabic nations in terms of where their nationalistic/ethnic prejudices lie. I think that America should allow more immigrants who could provide a positive lifestyle to America to immigrate over. I felt frustrated being in LA where there's tons of illegal immigrants from south of the border who live off of tax payer's money, aren't willing to learn English, nor provide any positive contributions to society. Worse yet, they propagate gang violence to the point where people can't even go out at night. Yet we have things like NAFTA rather than opening up more trade relations with countries like Japan or Russia. Very frustrating to watch.