I only became genuinely interested in F1 when I travelled from Charleleroi airport to Spa-Francorchamps one year and delighted in seeing the camaraderie between fans of the different teams from all the different counrtries as they travelled together.
It's nice to learn about your own perception of baseball which suggests that a love of the game generally transcends a team tribe mentality. This makes me happy.

Alas, kids are kids (and adults are adults), you can't please everybody. Doesn't mean it's not worth trying though. My take is that the little boy's precocious interest in F1 hadn't had the chance to evolve into a true passion so he was applying the generalised 'how to be a Sports fan' rules borrowed from his football supporting peers.

Folks may be interested in some of the things we have figured out for gifts. In addition to the aforementioned coffee, we picked up a massive jar of Nutella, which my daughter's Japanese friend is unable to get in Japan. We happened to be in Hershey PA over the weekend (home of Hershey chocolate) and were able to pick up a customized 1-lb candy bar (we chose chocolate chips and toffee bits in a milk chocolate candy bar, with added sprinkles) with the family's name on the wrapper. I thought this might be fun as it is a regional US chocolate item, customized for the family. We'll include a few other items as well in the care package, but these items will be the primary ones.

I did contact the Little League Hall of Fame, and am negotiating prices for some 2012 World Series pins (the Japanese team won in 2012, as they do most years) and other small items that I can give as goodwill gifts during our vacation. I'll probably try to include a photo of Japanese Little League Team as well or something along those lines that identifies the connection to Japan. I'll probably take a few dozen of whatever I decide on to give not only to the family, but as thank you/goodwill gifts for some of the folks we meet along the way (guides, restaurant or hotel staff, etc.)

Thanks again for everyone's input. I found this thread to be very helpful.

dcman2

I noticed the Japanese love of chocolate when I was there . If anyone in the family loves chocolate - I would go high end and buy something locally in Tokyo (I don't think that chocolate travels well - especially if shipped). My personal favorite is Maison du Chocolat. It has a few boutiques in Tokyo and is available in several department stores there as well:

http://www.lamaisonduchocolat.com/en...es.php?c=tokyo

Robyn