Five degrees of Separation

Five degrees of Separation:   In college we played the Kevin Bacon game.  The idea is that there are six degrees of separation between you and Kevin Bacon.   I can get to Kevin Bacon in two steps.   I went to Skidmore College as an undergraduate.   My suite-mate Anne was from Maliibu, California.   She met Kevin Bacon on an airplane and forever shattered my image of him.  He was unkempt and smelled.   Oh, to go back to the clean shaven Footloose days.   Anyway, Facebook claims that the six degrees of separation have been cut down to five by social networking.   When I started telling friends, family, and acquaintances that I was going to Japan to teach everyone started telling me stories of friends and family that also went to Asia to teach.   Most knew someone that went specifically to Japan.   I wonder how many degrees of separation it would take you to get to a teacher in Japan (other than me).