yes, japanese culture is ineffably complex ; i'm actually quite impressed by my friend who has managed to integrate herself so well (as much as a blond, blue-eyed czech girl living in Tokyo can hope to, i mean...
).
i prefer also that the honoric prefixes and suffixes be left in japanese, since there is no real equivalent ; although an explicative footnote is appreciated also... i have heard of -san before (of course) and i knew approximately what it means ; i had heard -chan but had no idea what it meant. the others i had never heard of.
do you speak japanese fluently, neko-chan chérie ? are you japanese (if that's not too indsicreet) ?