You can't compare birds with countries but you can compare obsessions. However, Japan is really high on my love list as well. :p
As is Russia, by the way
Yeah, let's hope so, but still a magpie needs a lot of time and attention and with my future job I'm not sure if I could give it that. xD
And it's funny how they don't even steal shiny objects. They're just playful and curious and shiny things attract their attention more than other objects. They play around with it a little but they've never actually been caught stealing like that. :')