"...Do countries here usually not have domestic spying?"

"I think most of them do, but it's acknowledged not to be an attractive feature, nobody's like 'visit the States, we have beautiful national parks and also the NSA'."

"Ah, yeah, domestic spying that's bad at being unobtrusive is annoying."

"Not... really the top complaint, but sure."

"I mean if they're obtrusive they're probably also bad at their jobs..."

"People often think that the job of 'spying on your citizens' should not be a job at all."

"...Why not?"

"Pri...vacy?"

"...For what?"

"People just like not being spied on, so a country failing to provide this good for its citizens is conspicuously failing at an aspect of quality of life that may be salient to our people more than yours."

"Shinobi actually do dislike being spied on but for - like, I wouldn't say 'it's just a preference,' if a state's very good at spying on me then it has a military advantage over me, right, and also a lot of older shinobi are fairly traumatized and therefore also extremely paranoid even beyond normal 'I would like to be able to ever decide a leader should be doing Not That.'"

"I'm generally fine with being spied on, but I'm also fairly confident in my ability to spy back and in my ability to dodge spying when I want, and that any leader who's done things warranting removal has also pissed off people they don't have eyes on."

"Also shinobi tended historically to specialize in infiltration and assassination, so it is actually very important as a security concern to be able to pick up if someone's being impersonated or mind controlled, plus like normal 'if an enemy spy walks in your front gate you should know about them before they even get there.' Though that's often orthogonal to 'tracking dissidents,' which an annoying number of leaders decide to prioritize over external threats."

"Quality of life doesn't tend to come up in conversations about domestic spying, though. Just - what advantages who."

"Well, uh, that's a cultural difference you'll want to have an eye on."

She nods, thoughtfully.

"This is our stop, follow me," she says, and the train comes to a halt and she leads Sakura off of it and up to the street. New York City ensues around them.

Okay wow this city is so big.

Sakura is actually really interested in all the ensuing New York City is doing. It would probably wear off a lot faster if she couldn't filter her senses at will.

"...do you want to walk around the block or something before going up to my apartment?"

"If you don't mind!"

"I don't mind. We can stop and get food, even."

She makes an interested noise. "Food definitely sounds good."

"Weird vegan place, sushi, Italian, burgers, pizza?"

Hum. "Not sushi... Whichever of the others is most - New York-ish, I guess."

"Hm, gonna go with pizza, then. This way." She strikes off and they are presently sat at a pizza place. "- you can eat dairy, right?"

"Yup."

"Oh good." She orders them slices of pepperoni.

She waits for Bella to start eating before mimicking her manners, then, "This is good! Weird, though. Are all your foods this - greasy?"