@Double Nice post! I do want to offer a quick clarification to you, though, and everyone else.
Katsuo started as a writing exercise for me, and as such I did a bunch of minor details in his backstory that existed before G3njii suggested we have all our characters be from the US. The biggest one is the detail that he's from Camp Zama - a US military base located in Japan. So, ironically, I was also trying to nip the language thing in the bud by having him chat with Captain in Japanese (and italicized font) and English with everyone else (and non-italicized font).
I, uh, guess I didn't succeed. Sorry for the confusion.
Also, I suppose if
@G3njii doesn't mind (though I've been following his statuses, and um, ouch), I'll post a follow-up as well within the next few days?