BEFORE Noriko Mochizuki travelled to Australia, she had heard about koalas, kangaroos, beaches, and strange men in cars who killed backpackers.
By the time she returns home to Tokyo, the 25-year-old will tell her friends that - the infamous Ivan Milat backpacker murders aside - Australians are relaxed, kind and sometimes very rude.
''Sometimes you go to buy something at a coffee shop and they don't want to understand or they just ignore you,'' she said during a surfing lesson with Surfs Up near Cronulla.
''The customer service is much, much better in Japan.''
Ms Mochizuki, from Tokyo, is one of a dwindling breed: the Japanese tourist Down Under.
". . .strange men in cars who killed backpackers." Hmmm, anyone here fit that description???
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