I have been an ovo-lacto vegetarian since 1993, except for the past year. In 2010, I did an internship in Japan, and found it extremely difficult to remain vegetarian. (See this post from /r/japan for why.) I moved to Japan a year ago for a temporary job here, and I decided to switch to eating meat for this year. It was the right decision for me - not everyone needs to eat meat in Japan, but I felt it was right for me, and sure enough it made my life so much easier.

But I never got used to it. I have noticed it every single time I ate meat. I enjoyed some of it, burgers turn out to be pretty tasty, but I never liked eating meat. And in three weeks, I'm moving back to the US permanently, where it's much easier to be vegetarian. And I can't wait! My favorite restaurant in the world is a vegan place a mile from my house, and I'm going there the day after I land, I think! I can't wait!

So I consider myself a 20-year vegetarian with a 1-year hiatus. Yes, I decided to do it myself, and some might say I can't claim the longer term as a result. But vegetarianism is a huge part of my identity and it was a big shift for me to give it up. I'm really happy to get back to it. Yay!