I'm trying to imagine how much Houstonians are concerned about how they're perceived by the Japanese. The Land of the Rising Sun isn't exactly known for its vast fondness or familiarity with other cultures. When I was living in CHicago and traveling in Japan a few years ago, the Japanese would ask where I was from. When I told them "Chicago", they would point their fingers and make a "tommy-gun" noise like "ack-ack-ack-ack!", and say, "Ah, Chee-cah-go! Gangstahs!". I think Al Capone had been dead for fifty or sixty years at that time, but I didn't have the heart to tell them.
Maybe they were trying to talk like Mayor Daley.
Yeah. Kinda' like (some) Americans actually have the nerve to inquire what the driving time from Tokyo to Hong Kong is, or "just where in Japan that Seoul is?".etc. etc.. :-0