Won't Miss #272 - no express checkout

Back home, you find people complaining that someone is always trying to get into the "10 items or less" express checkout with more items than the maximum. In Japan, no one complains about this because there aren't any express checkout lanes at any of the places I have ever shopped at. Quite often, I'll be approaching the check-out clerk with one item in hand when someone a half step in front of

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Will Miss #271 - Kokeshi

There's something creepily appealing about kokeshi dolls. They seem to represent a part of the culture that preceded the obsession with "cute". They are expressionless and limbless. They actually are quite minimalist in their sparse paint jobs. The basic design seems almost tribal. Though they are quite simplistic in shape, and almost utilitarian in appearance, the designs are thoroughly human

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Won't Miss #271 - Japanese toothpaste

Yes, I know Gum is an imported brand, but it's the only picture of  toothpaste for the Japanese market that I have.
During my earliest days in Japan, someone I worked with "warned" me not to use Japanese toothpaste because it supposedly had sugar in it or was an ineffective dentrifice. I'm not sure if that is or was true, but I do know that Japanese toothpaste leaves something to be desired. For

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Will Miss #270 - trains crossing closeby

I rarely rode public transport back home because I grew up in a rural area. My main experience with it was riding the Cal Train to San Mateo once a week and riding the Boston subway on a few occasions. The Cal Train were lonely and infrequent, so the experience of trains whizzing by within what feels like inches of one another at high speed carries a particular sense of excitement.

There's

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Won't Miss #270 - eyes open, ears closed

"Speak, Hear, and See No Evil" statues at a local stone-working shop. The Japanese believe they invented this concept, incidentally.
My brother-in-law likes to tell a classic anecdote from his early days in Japan which beautifully illustrates the mental wall that goes up between a Japanese person and a foreigner the minute the former lays eyes on the latter. He speaks Japanese well, particularly

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Will Miss #269 - western models

Mannequins that are clearly Western in appearance modeling Japanese yukata.
When I first arrived in Japan (about 20 years ago), there was something which I found peculiar, and that was the vastly disproportionate number of Western-looking models. In fact, the majority of ads (at least 80%) on trains showed people who look like they were from Europe (loads of blondes!). These days, it's not quite

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Won't Miss #269 - nomikai

"Nomikai" means "drinking party" in Japanese. If you work, you will often be invited to such parties, and declining those invitations can have negative consequences on your relationship with your coworkers as well as your future promotion potential. The thinking behind nomikai is that Japanese people have to keep their true feelings under such tight wraps that they can only let some of them out

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Sorry for a few glitches

Just a quick apology for a few scheduling glitches which saw an old post re-issued into the RSS feed and a future one posted prematurely (and subsequently removed). Sometimes I mess up, and sometimes Blogger messes up. This time, it was me. I apologize for the confusion!

I wish I could say that it won't happen again, but there's every chance that it will given my imperfect ability to get dates

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Will Miss #268 - "alien" seafood

This is perhaps not the noblest or most mature thing to enjoy in Japan, but a lot of the food looks to me like alien offspring. A lot of review blogs about Japanese food are driven by the "it's so creepy and weird" vibe that one gets off of the food here. If you live outside of Japan, you  mainly get it from the flavors of snack foods, like wasabi KitKats or yogurt Pepsi. When you live here,

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Won't Miss #268 - region code issues

From left top: Cinderella, Pinocchio, Gulliver's TravelsFrom left bottom: The Three Caballeros, Dumbo, Fantasia
One of the cool things about Japan is that their copyright laws aren't determined by the ability of big corporations to bribe lawmakers into infinitely extending them through backdoor means. That means that you can get professionally released DVDs of movies that might normally cost

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Will Miss #267 - Audrey Hepburn fixation

Okay, she's not Audrey Hepburn, but don't the hat and hair remind you of her style? And she is one cute little girl.
The first time I came to Japan in 1988, I didn't know much about the culture or people. Frankly, I came to Japan the first time to visit my future (American) husband who just so happened to be working here. I had much more interest in him than Japanese people or culture. While I

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Won't Miss #267 - "clean your plate" manners

One of my students did a home stay in a mid-western state and made a simple Japanese-style meal for her host family. She said that she thought they didn't like it and felt bad because they didn't eat everything that she served them. Another one of my students visited a former boss and he served her a huge quantity of rather oily eel which was far more food than she could comfortably eat, but she

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Will Miss #266 - growing up more slowly

Japanese people grow up more slowly than Americans. It's hard to explain this without it coming out wrong and possibly sounding insulting (to either side), but I always have the sense that there are a lot of 12-year-olds going on 20 in the U.S.  There's a rush to be "mature" and prove you're "worldly" and capable of independence as early as possible, and young people have a particular attitude

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Won't Miss #266 - no pets

My husband and I both love cats. In fact, we agreed that once we settled down, we could get a cat... then we moved to Japan. There are two issues for us when it comes to owning a pet in Japan. The first issue is that most apartments in Tokyo don't allow pets beyond fish, turtles, or beetles, including mine. In many cases, getting a place that allows pets means paying appreciably more for rent (

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Will Miss #265 - (generally) liking Americans

One thing I learned pretty quickly during my first job in Japan, among which I had a plethora of coworkers from other English speaking countries, was that many people dislike Americans. They haven't been to America, nor are they particularly well-educated about it, but they don't like us. They think we are our politics, our politicians, our business practices, our fast food, our laws, and our

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Won't Miss #265 - heated toilet seats in summer

Japanese toilet seats are a level of luxury that my stubborn heart cannot permit my obstinate behind to have. I can't see what is so tragic about wiping your own behind and sitting on a plain old toilet seat, so I've not invested in any of those fancy seats that do all the work for you. I do encounter them in public places quite often though. In fact, they are becoming more and more common in

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Will Miss #264 - fiber rich jellies/gelatin

A foil packet of lychee konnyaku zero-calorie jelly drink meant to fill the space when you're dieting.
Part of Japanese cuisine is something called "konnyaku" (konjac). It's derived from a corm (similar to a potato, but not quite the same beast). You can often see konnyaku as a block of gray gelatin that has little black speckles on it. They float around in oden and are used in soups and stews.

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Won't Miss #264 - talking about golf

That stereotype about Japanese men loving golf? There's a fair basis in reality for that. I have a student, a very nice elderly gentleman, who would talk about golf until the cows came home if he could manage to scrape up enough topics. In fact, all I have to do to engage him more actively in what is normally boring English grammar pattern practice (his level is low and he needs this), is to ask

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Will Miss #263 - the shopping bag deal

Japanese people have a curious relationship with shopping bags. I'm talking about the fancy paper kind with fabric or string handles, not the cheap plastic ones in which you carry groceries. In fact, one of the things you'll notice when you first arrive in Japan is that the majority of people appear to have shopping bags with them at all times. While it may seem that this is due to their heavy

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Won't Miss #263 - blaming foreigners for drug sales

If you read a story about a Japanese person who is caught with drugs and arrested, there is a high probability that it will be mentioned that the detainee will be asked where the drugs were obtained and the answer will be, "I got them from a foreigner". The fact that this information is included for routine drug busts (like someone caught with marijuana or stimulants) for small amounts of drugs

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Will Miss #262 - low interest on loans

Hello Kitty wants to loan you money for your needs at low rates.
The flip-side to the previous post is that Japanese people get to borrow money at a rate which tends to be substantially lower than those in the West. If you buy a house or car, you get very attractive interest rates. This is especially appealing when you consider that it often takes 30 years to buy expensive property in Japan. It's

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Won't Miss #262 - low interest on savings

This sign does not talk about savings interest rates. Such signs do not exist because such information is too embarrassing to be promoted. Please enjoy this picture of the pretty model next to information on credit card loans at Mizuho bank instead. It's the best I could do as a tangentially related picture.
The Japanese are a country of savers, and that means that banks offer them little

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Will Miss #261 - not sweating the small stuff

When I talk about character traits, I'm talking about tendencies, not each individual person. There are cultural concepts that underlie the tendencies of people in their particular culture and each person acts a little differently. Mainly, I'm talking about behavioral probabilities. When it comes to getting upset about small things, the Japanese are much more likely than not to just let it go.

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Won't Miss #261 - train access blockers

Perhaps this is normal behavior all over the world, but I never experienced this until I came to Tokyo. Very often when I'm waiting in line for the train to arrive, and there is one person at the head of the line in front of me, that person will not get on the train even when there is a break in the traffic flow of people disembarking. Any reasonable person would get on the train when the door

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Will Miss #260 - my dentist(s)

Best dentists (and hygienists), ever.
I can't speak to the quality of dental care everywhere in Japan, and I have mentioned before that it is irritating having to get treatment in multiple stages due to the way in which the national health insurance works. However, I have had nothing but the best dental care in Japan. This is in stark contrast to the horrific experiences I had in America with

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Won't Miss #260 - Caucasian elevation

If you're white in Japan, you automatically have value based on skin color alone. Many Caucasian foreigners, particularly men, love being seen as special and relish being the favored pet that is fawned over and spoken to with adoration. They're the best of breed among the kennel of foreigners. If you're black, you're a bit out of luck in the gaijin pet show because many Japanese tend to regard

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Will Miss #259 - "live theater"

A family goes about their business in full view of strangers passing by.
This may be something that only happens in my neighborhood. It may be something that happens in all big cities all over the world. I don't know. All I can tell you is that I never experienced such a thing back home in either the rural Pennsylvania town I grew up in or the suburban California town I lived in for awhile. At

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Won't Miss #259 - absurdly fussy shopping

I shop at a very cheap green grocer (Yutakararya). In fact, in terms of produce quality and prices, I'd say that they're the bottom of the barrel, but still good for basic daily fresh food needs. No one with two brain cells would expect to find perfectly shaped, premium fruit and vegetables there. It's not the sort of place where you find $80 (7,900 yen) melons gift-wrapped and swaddled in

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Will Miss #258 - language schools (the good)

A Geos poster, implying that you'll be in one big happy family with foreigners and Japanese alike if you attend their school. Of course, it's too late now since Geos folded.
While there are problems with working at language schools (related mainly to cultural differences and working expectations), the experience carries some unique benefits. The main one is that it is often an ideal environment

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Won't Miss #258 - language schools (the bad)

An ad for "Geos" language school (eikaiwa) using Disney's "Shrek". Even though the school went out of business, these posters are still up all over Tokyo. Given the cash they must have invested to use these images, it's no wonder the company went down the drain.

One of the things that foreigners learn rather quickly after being engaged at a language school is that the experience is not what

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Will Miss #257 - feeling like an Amazon

Several months ago, I was walking around my neighborhood and a group of 5 or 6 foreign men were waiting to cross the street. I was struck immediately by how physically intimidated they made me feel because they were all much taller and more solid (not fat) compared to the people I'm accustomed to having around me. It occurred to me that I so very rarely encounter people who are substantially

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Won't Miss #257 - public urination

A sign in a paid parking lot asking people not to use it as a toilet
I realize men pee in the streets all around the world, especially when they are drunk and it's night-time, but I personally did not experience it that much growing up in America. I was very shocked to see that perfectly sober men in Tokyo urinate in well-traveled side streets and on other people's private property, even when

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Will Miss #256 - air conditioned waiting areas

An enclosed waiting space (left) with air conditioning on the Keio line train platform.
Our last sojourn to Costco occurred in the humidity of the rainy season in June. The trip takes about 5.5 hours round-trip and requires a fair amount of train riding and some transfers. My husband and I were gratified to find the enclosed waiting spaces on the platform were air conditioned. They offered very

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Won't Miss #256 - the "cut off and slow down"

As part of the never-ending competition for space on the sidewalks, stations, and shopping areas with other pedestrians in nearly every moderately crowded area of Tokyo, there is an experience that continues to frustrate me. Frequently, people who are walking behind me will walk very fast just to get around me and the minute they get in front of me, they will slow down to a pace which is slower

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Will Miss #255 - an apology is all it (usually) takes

The Japanese are big into taking responsibility, but they are also very forgiving when you admit that you messed up. I'm sometimes floored by the mistakes or misunderstandings that are dismissed or utterly overlooked with the issuance of a simple apology and an explanation. This works not only on a personal level, but frequently on an official one. When my husband and I forgot on a couple of

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Won't Miss #255 - MSG

Jars of "Aji Shio" at a local convenience market. It's the only type of salt on offer.
One of the many mistakes that foreign folks make early on in their stay in Japan is buying salt with MSG or MSG instead of salt to put on their food. Unless you know what it is, they look very similar and are not marked in an appreciably different fashion. In fact, in many convenience stores, they don't sell

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Will Miss #254 - general trustworthiness

A woman left her wallet, schedule book, drink, and slippers on a bench while she made a call from a phone booth about 10 feet away.
Both natives and foreigners alike are told constantly that Japan is a "safety country", and that people do not engage in petty criminal acts. This is largely true and at least a little false. I left a tote bag in a bike basket while running into a store and it was

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Won't Miss #254 - overheated movie theaters

While it is great to be able to eat and drink what you want in movie theaters in Japan, there is one big problem, and that's the temperature. Most theaters are uncomfortably hot in both summer and winter. In the winter, they overheat them and in summer, they under-cool them. Part of the reason for this is that Japanese people in general prefer hotter temperatures than foreigners, but part of it

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Will Miss #253 - taking my own snacks to movies

In the U.S., most theater owners will not permit people to bring in their own food and drink. This allows them to massively overcharge at the concessions stand and make more money. In Japan, you can nosh on anything you want inside the theater. That's right. People take in bags of fast food to eat during the movie if they want and nobody hassles them.

I'll miss being able to take what I want to

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Won't Miss #253 - Japanese slapped over English

Before I whine about this particular thing, I would ask my gentle readers to keep in mind that I get to complain about things which are decidedly reasonable and fair ways for things to happen because they just so happen to inconvenience me personally. It is absolutely proper for the Japanese importers to plaster Japanese product information over the English on imported products, but it still

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Will Miss #252 - Japanese versions of Western icons

 Click to see a larger version.
Growing up in America, I grew accustomed to seeing certain figures look a certain way. Ronald McDonald, for instance, always has a similar physique regardless of the model or actor under the make-up and in the costume. Any iconic character that has been around for awhile tends to assume a particular image and it's always interesting seeing the Japanese versions of

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Won't Miss #252 - Japanese paper towels

I don't know why these seem to be named for cow usage.
Yes, I know paper towels are the spawn of ecological evil and I shouldn't use them. That being said, considering the fact that I can only do laundry in cold water, I'm not exactly in a position to be cleaning greasy rags or getting germy ones clean and sanitary. I really have little choice but to use paper towels for things like cleaning a

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Will Miss #251 - free ambulance service

In odd contrast to the previous post about paying for emergency rescue services, ambulances in Japan are free. If you've fallen and you can't get up, you get a free ride to the hospital. Considering that many people back home in America won't call an ambulance when they need one for fear of the cost, this is a rather refreshing situation. Of course, there is a down side, and that's that some

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Won't Miss #251 - paying for emergency rescue and searches

If you are the adventurous sort and want to go around climbing Mt. Fuji or any of the other famous natural areas that people are prone to hike around in Japan, you'd better hope you don't trip and fall into a ravine for more than one reason. Besides the obvious pain, suffering (and potential death), your family or you will be on the hook for the cost of any search and rescue expenses. Any

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Will Miss #250 - Japanese onomatopoeia

A "fuwa fuwa" (fluffy) marshmallow cake.
The Japanese language has a lot of onomatopoeia. For those who are unfamiliar, those are words that sound like or suggest the concept they are meant to convey. I've never counted how many we have in English, but I'm pretty sure the Japanese have many more. I encounter a lot of them while snack blogging. For instance, "saku saku" is crispy and "fuwa fuwa"

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Won't Miss #250 - green tea shops

There are many people who are great fans of green tea and I can sort of see the appeal. Personally, it's one of those things that I can take or leave. I don't get excited about it, but I enjoy eating foods flavored with it on occasion and I'll drink it if it comes free with a Japanese meal or someone serves it to me. It's pleasant enough, but I'm not crazy for it. Green tea itself is fine, but

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Will Miss #249 - Mister Donut

Mister Donut originated in the United States, but the market there is quite small. In Japan, Mister Donut is far more popular and carries a variety of small, not too sweet donuts for about 100 yen each. They often have some interesting seasonal flavors and make some unique donuts for the Japanese markets, such as ones made with kinako (toasted soy flour) or mochi (pounded rice). The results are

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Won't Miss #249 - door handle grabbers

Back home in rural Pennsylvania, we used to leave our front door unlocked all of the time because crime was so rare. When salespeople or strangers on formal business came to our house, they would knock and after we replied, they would stand behind the door and announce themselves. We (the owners of the domicile) would then open the door and let them in. In Tokyo, there is a rather disturbing

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Will Miss #248 - one day "event" sales

One Day Shop Fuji renting the space to a music seller who has many CDs for 10 yen (11 cents) each.
When I was a child, my grandmother used to take us to auctions where copious quantities of new and varied items were sold for cheap. There was something really cool about the unpredictable nature of the types of items that are sold. I never knew what was going to be on offer. On the main shopping

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Won't Miss #248 - Softbank

My issues with Softbank are two-fold (at the moment). First, if you sign a contract with them and you are not Japanese, you must provide two forms of official identification such as your alien registration card, passport, or government issue health insurance card. If you are Japanese, you only need to provide one piece of official identification or two very flimsy pieces (like student I.D. and

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Will Miss #247 - pacifism

Back home, people are generally comfortable with the idea of going to war and of their armed force's going abroad and taking part in aggressive activities. The Japanese have a culture which is very strongly based on pacifism. Most Japanese people place peace above many other interests. It's one of the reasons Japan is always paying off terrorists who kidnap their representatives and media

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Won't Miss #247 - squid

Early on in my stay in Japan, I would see packages of "onion rings" like the type you see above. Unfortunately, they did not have a little cartoon on them so I was in for a rude awakening. I realize that there are some people who love squid, but it's like chewing on an eraser to me. Seeing these battered squid rings always brings about an initial positive conditioned response which is always

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Will Miss #246 - traditional sweets shops

One of the joys of living in Japan is that there are a plethora of traditional sweets shops that offer fresh treats made daily and in great variety. Very early in my time in Japan, I became a fan of white bean cakes, and often enjoy the unique offerings of manju or other traditional treats that are available at such shops. They are not only fresh, but each shop has its own special selection.

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Won't Miss #246 - need for extreme AM quiet

Sometimes I wake up really early and can't go back to sleep. No big deal, right? It happens to everyone. Well, when you live in an apartment which is the total size of most Western living rooms and separated by doors which are the equivalent of cardboard when it comes to sound insulation, you can't do anything for fear of waking the other inhabitants of your home and forcing them to face the

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Will Miss #245 - housing brochures

 Click to see a larger version.
I have a peculiar fascination with the types of housing brochures that litter my mailbox. At least once a week, I get a large flyer advertising condominiums in my area. I'm fascinated by them for a variety of reasons. First of all, I like to see the sizes and relative prices. Second, I like to see how they conceptualize the spaces and lay them out. Third, I'm

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Won't Miss #245 - Japanese bread

This bread makes gorgeous and decadent toast. Each slice is as thick as two regular slices, perhaps thicker. Coffee shops often use this sort of bread for toast and coffee breakfast sets. I never eat it.
Sometimes, things that are good in every way are not necessarily good for you. One of those things is Japanese bread. If I were to come as a tourist and dine on buttered toast and coffee for

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Will Miss #244 - automated ordering

A few buttons on a huge automated ordering machine. These are for curry and curry toppings.
Japan has long been famous for its technological innovations. Some day, I'm sure that they will be able to do away with people altogether in the service industry. Given that the birthrate is a bit under 1.4, they'll probably need to do this. For now though, they do the best they can to put technology into

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Won't Miss #244 - bike abuse

One of the things you'll find out rapidly in Japan if you ride a bicycle is that other people have no respect whatsoever for your bike. Besides filling your basket with their empty beverage cans, used tissues, and onigiri wrappers (something I dealt with on a daily basis when I parked at the station for work), they will also do whatever it takes to cram into what limited bike parking space is

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Won't Miss #243 - screeching amado

 The amado are behind Batman's motorcycle.
I'm written before about the virtues of amado, metal shutters that slide across your windows and lock in the center, and how I like how they provide multiple benefits. I wrote that post in the winter and forgot about the bad side to them and that is that they often very loudly screech when opened and closed. Apparently, part of the maintenance fee I pay

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Will Miss #243 - neighborhood freebies

The sign behind the cups on the left tells people they are welcome to take these things.
I'm not sure if this is something which is common all over Japan (or Tokyo) or if it just happens in my neighborhood, but I often see people putting out free items with a sign encouraging anyone who wants them to take the objects on offer. More often than not, it's dishes, but sometimes it is pieces of

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Won't Miss #242 - useless maintenance fees

My landlord uses my maintenance fee to paint the metal guard leading to my building a fetching shade of battleship gray once every 3 or 4 years. Yeah, that costs about $1600 a year (which is what they get from our entire building in maintenance fees).
Maintenance fees for rented spaces are not uncommon in many countries and there is no reason why Japan should be any different. However,

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Will Miss #242 - Curry House Cocoichibanya

If you think Japanese food is healthy, then you don't know the guilty pleasures of Curry House Cocoichibanya. One of my favorite ways to eat myself into a carb stupor is to get a cheese curry bento with pari pari chicken (grilled crispy skin chicken) and garlic. The basic bentos are so huge though that I can only eat half. That's okay because then I can re-stupify the next day on the leftovers.

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Will Miss #241 - attitude toward (same gender) nudity

One of my students had foreign guests visit her family and they went to an onsen. The foreign couple refused to take part with her family when visiting the hot springs even though it was all women in one pool and all men in a completely separate one. My student couldn't understand their squeamishness, and asked me why they wouldn't join them. I told her that we have a lot of shame in connection

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Won't Miss #241 - the doodoo street

Signs like this one telling people not to leave their dog's feces all over the place are abundant in residential areas in Tokyo. There wouldn't be a need for these signs to be plastered everywhere if people weren't leaving poop behind when walking their dogs.
There's a back street near my home which I always take to go shopping for groceries as it leads to a wonderful shopping area not too far

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Will Miss #240 - dekopon

Before coming to Japan, I was not a fan of fresh oranges, though I did like orange-flavored foods. Most of them didn't seem to have much taste, and I didn't like the texture. Since coming to Japan, I've found that there are some much more flavorful options on the orange front. One of those options is dekopon (marketed as "sumo citrus" in the U.S.), a variety of orange with a protruding navel

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Won't Miss #240 - frequently feeling defensive

If you walk up to a dog that has never seen you before and look it straight in the eyes while holding your hand above its head to pat it, there is a decent chance the dog will bite you. All animals find staring to be an act of aggression and challenge. It makes them angry. Humans, being animals, are no different. One of the consequences of being stared at all the time is that you become

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Will Miss #239 - a culture of gaman

One of the character qualities that Japanese culture encourages and builds into it citizens is something called "gaman". It can mean slightly different things, but it essentially means to practice tolerance in the face of hardship rather than to complain, act out, or be confrontational. The manner in which this manifests in life here is that (the vast majority of) people tend to be patient with

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Won't Miss #239 - sharing slippers

My husband got a pair of Birkenstocks that had been worn twice by their previous owner via Freecycle in Tokyo. We had been having problems finding a new pair in his size (and he doesn't have big feet!) and were delighted when a pair that were big enough showed up in the Freecycle mailing list. My friend Shawn had a bit of an "ick" response to the idea that we'd accept second-hand shoes, even

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Will Miss #238 - fans

You can buy fans anywhere in the world, but Japan is the (unofficial) home of fans and they are closely associated with the culture. Who hasn't seen the image of the beautiful Japanese woman holding a fan in front of her? Every summer, a wide variety of attractive, cheap, and free fans are available. You find plastic ones featuring ads being given away on the streets for advertising as well as

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Won't Miss #238 - eating at my desk

This is an old picture, but I'm too lazy to take a new one. However, that is pretty much the desk I still have and eat at. :-p
I have grown accustomed to many of the shortcomings of living in a very small space and I'm at peace with most of them. That being said, our apartment is too small for a dining table. When I was younger, that didn't trouble me much, but as I've gotten older and started to

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Will Miss #237 - no line jumpers

One of the major complaints that I hear when friends travel in other parts of Asia is that people don't line up when it is necessary to wait your turn for something. In China in particular, it's a free-for-all and can be quite disconcerting and aggravating in a crowded situation, but even in the U.S., you see some pretty selfish and bad behavior while waiting in line. The Japanese are masters at

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Won't Miss #237 - "inscrutable culture"

There is a notion that Japanese cultural concepts (and the underlying psychology) are too sophisticated for outsiders to comprehend, so most Japanese people won't even try to explain certain ideas to curious foreign folks. Frankly, I can tell you this is a crock. Many Japanese people can't explain Japanese cultural concepts for a variety of reasons that have nothing to do with the inability of

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Will Miss #236 - daruma dolls

Daruma dolls show up all over the place in Japan and even in Western countries when they want to show some sort of Japanese decor. In fact, I remember seeing one in the attic apartment set used for the American T.V. comedy "Third Rock From the Sun." Some people may know they are Japanese, but not know what they are used for. I don't like daruma for their design, but rather for the concept behind

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Won't Miss #236 - pedestrian overpasses

 A typical overpass, one of hundreds, on Ome Kaido Avenue.
I live near a large major street which is the fastest way for emergency vehicles to reach destinations between my home and other major mini-cities inside of Tokyo. Without access to this street, it is virtually impossible for emergency vehicles to get where they need to go. This long and important street is peppered liberally across its

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Quick Mention: This blog was reviewed

Just a quick mention that this blog was reviewed at the Japan Blog Review. It's an interesting site that will introduce those interested in Japan blogs to more of the same so you might want to give it a look.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

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Will Miss #235 - Japanese pottery

 
My husband and I don't give each other gifts for holidays anymore, but early on in our stay in Japan, we still did. One of my earliest requests was some hand-made Japanese pottery. In particular, I wanted some cups with traditional glazing and designs. There's something about the natural look and feel of this type of pottery which is comforting. It makes me feel like I'm consuming food or

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Won't Miss #235 - "do you speak Japanese?"

Some questions when asked have nothing but bad intentions behind them, and this is one of them. Note that there are only two types of people who ask me this question. One is students in language lessons who are supposed to only deal with me in English and my Japanese language ability has nothing to do with them (as I'm not going to speak Japanese to them regardless). The others are

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Will Miss #234 - the passive nature of Japanese people

Japanese people are generally pretty passive and tolerant. This is because their culture values emotional control and stoicism far more than many Western cultures and they have a culture which values "gaman" or "enduring suffering" rather than fighting back. They view the inability of foreign people to control their emotions or withhold their opinions in circumstances when expressing them might

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Won't Miss #234 - reluctance to express oneself

The Japanese are often reluctant to express themselves because their culture does not reward varying opinions. A lot of Japanese people will not have a debate or even a discussion with you about a topic of interest because they do not want to risk offending or upsetting you with a different opinion. In fact, many Japanese people will simply shake their head "yes" when you assert some viewpoint

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Will Miss #233 - takarakuji

 A window which sells Japanese lottery tickets.
"Takarakuji" is the Japanese version of the lottery. Let me say that I do not buy lottery tickets or gamble. To me, it's simply tossing ones money out the window because the odds are so low that you'll win as much as you spend, let alone more. That being said, I always get a kick out of the way the Japanese lottery works because the prizes really

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Won't Miss #233 - men first

When I ask my female students who have traveled abroad what they have liked about visiting a Western country, every one of them says that they like the "ladies first" mentality of the people in those countries. A lot of foreigners believe this to mean things like opening doors for women, pulling out chairs for them in restaurants, etc. There is no history of chivalry in Japan so it isn't

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Will Miss #232 - valuing cultural pursuits

A sign offering piano and electone organ lessons.
The prevailing attitude in the U.S. when it comes to education is that it should be in the service of earning money. In particular, people believe that you should spend your time pursuing only those things which will advance your career. This is one of the reasons that people hold liberal arts degree holders in contempt and have a higher regard

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Won't Miss #232 - low sofas

For reasons I'm sure that I can only guess at, the sofas in Japan seem to be built for munchkins. I'm not talking about the kind of furniture which has  you sitting essentially on the floor with a back support (of which there is plenty in Japan), but about Western-style sofas and sometimes cushy chairs that are just about 4-6 inches too low to be comfortable to sit on (because there is increased

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Posting Frequency Changes

As of the today, this blog will be going from a posting schedule in which at least one post is made everyday to a weekday schedule. New posts will only be made from Monday to Friday. The reasons for this are personal, and not of great interest to my readers but the gist of it is that I've been writing 14 posts (or more) per week on average for several blogs (mainly this one and my Snack Reviews

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Will Miss #231 - tachiyomi

One of the most fascinating things I witnessed early in my stay in Japan was large groups of people, particularly men, who stood in book shops and convenience stores and just read the magazines or books. The shop owners never sweated this, despite the fact that many people read entire magazines, books, or comic books (manga) and didn't make a purchase. The publications would sometimes become

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Won't Miss #231 - poor rain etiquette

I think this is a "Tokyo thing". It might also be a "treatment of females thing", or even a thing that is related to being a foreigner. I don't know all of the variables, but for quite some time I've noticed that people act incredibly selfishly when it rains. I realize most Japanese people react to rain as if they were composed of sugar and might melt away entirely should the drops touch them,

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Will Miss #230 - traditional healing

In the West, people tend to view any sort of healing which is non-scientific or medical in nature as useless. The Japanese embrace a variety of healing methods including acupuncture, acupressure, and herbal medicine. Many of my students partake of these types of healing to help them deal with stress or chronic pain. Many have told me that it helps them with things like back, neck, and shoulder

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Won't Miss #230 - Japanese cemetaries

As I mentioned in the previous post, I grew up around a cemetery and I have had an interest in grave markers as a result. The designs of the stones, the words written upon them, and the epitaphs always told me something about the people and how they felt. Some of the graves even told me something about how the people looked as photos were included as part of the stone design. Burial markers are

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Will Miss #229 - cremation as the law

A Japanese grave upon which someone has left an Ultraman figure, perhaps in memory of a child who has died.
I grew up in a house that was about a 15 minute walk through the woods from a cemetery. When I was a kid, my cousins, sister, and I used to tromp through the woods and wind up in that cemetery where we'd run around and look at the stones to see what they looked like and said. Sometimes,

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Won't Miss #229 - expensive, unpleasant water

Water in Tokyo is pretty expensive. In fact, it's sufficiently expensive that some Japanese people use their old bathwater to do laundry. My water bills recently went up 20% for no reason that I could work out, so I've taken to trying to save water by turning the shower water on and off when I can in order to cut back on water use. Of course, I usually do this in the summer when it's warm anyway

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Will Miss #228 - plethora of chestnut-based foods

I grew up around chestnuts, but we rarely ate them except perhaps around Christmas. In Japan, chestnuts are everywhere. You can buy them in foil packs or freshly roasted to snack onr or garnish food. They are used to make rice dishes, traditional sweets like manju, and more Western-style cakes. They are also often mixed with beans or made into a paste for fillings, and, of course, used in

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Won't Miss #228 - gaijin monkeys

While I have an intense dislike for the fact that many people view foreigners who teach as little more than gaijin monkeys, I have to acknowledge that some people do act like said monkeys. A "gaijin monkey" is a foreigner who puts on an act to entertain Japanese people. Such people often treat Japanese people as if they were children who needed to be energetically amused at all times. This

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Will Miss #227 - free tissues

If you're walking down the street in Tokyo, there's a pretty good chance someone will stick their hand out and offer you a packet of free tissues. One of the ways in which advertisers get people to actually take their ads is to place them on the back of pocket-size tissues. There are foreign folks who say they never buy their own tissues, and others who say they get so many of these free packets

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Won't Miss #227 - bosozoku

Our apartment is about a 30-second walk from a major road and a traffic light is just a few more seconds from the intersection of our little street and that road. At night, sometimes after midnight, and when our windows are open because of the heat, we will hear the ebb and flow of traffic as it zooms down the street and becomes suddenly silent when the light is red. Occasionally, rather than

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Will Miss #226 - English, right where you need it

 A mailbox has English information (and braille) about collection times and what sort of mail goes into respective mail slots. Click to see a larger version that can be read.
When I first came to Japan, kanji (Chinese characters) were everywhere and I couldn't understand a thing. In fact, I once went into a panic in Ikebukuro station during the early days when I worked in that area because I got

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Won't Miss #226 - "why are you here?"

 
As I've mentioned before, I have talked to literally thousands of Japanese people due to the types of jobs I have done and the one question that I am thoroughly tired of answering is why I'm here. I get asked this question both in terms of why I came in the first place and why I keep living here after 20 years. One of the things you don't appreciate about living in your home country is that no

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Will Miss #225 - Beverly Hills 90210, the documentary

When I talk about high school in America, before I can complete a sentence, Japanese people tend to blurt out something to the effect of, "Oh, I know all about high school in America. I've seen Beverly Hills 90210." At first, I labored to explain that American kids do not live like the ones that you see on that T.V. program, but frankly, I don't think that anything will dissuade them from their

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Won't Miss #225 - tiny office chairs

The chair on the right would make an airplane seat seem roomy by comparison. For reference, even the chair on the left was small by Western standards (and no, these aren't kid's furniture!).
About a year ago, my venerable American office chair that I bought at Costco about a decade ago blew out a caster and I had to get a new one. Unfortunately, Costco no longer carries Western furniture so I had

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Will Miss #224 - adult tricycles

About once a week, sometimes more often than that, I see an adult riding around on what is essentially a big tricycle. Most of the time, though not always, the bicycle is being used by someone on the older side. I never saw such bikes back home, but I think they're a good idea not only for people who have problems keeping a two-wheeled bicycle stable, but also for those who take their bikes

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Won't Miss #224 - (s)Mothers and kyoiku mamas

Disclaimer (aka, please do not sue me): I'm not saying this lovely woman with her daughter is a kyoiku mama or overprotective because she's holding her little girl close. This is just a picture taken at a shrine on New Year's of a parent and seemed to fit the very general theme and is not meant to imply anything about this fine woman's character.
Though I have never been held hostage as part of

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Will Miss #223 - modesty about children

One of my students was looking for some English blogs to read to gain experience with "real" English. I chose a blog written by a foreign woman married to a Japanese man who who is currently living in Japan. I made this choice so she could relate to the experiences and perhaps understand the subjects being discussed more easily. When she looked at the blog, she was shocked by the way the woman

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Won't Miss #223 - multi-stage dental work

The last time my husband and I went in for a dental check-up and teeth cleaning, he paid in cash and I used the Japanese national health insurance. For him, he got a good chat with the dentist and a full cleaning all at once for about 500 yen (about $5) more than I paid once the deductible was paid. For me, I got a (literally) 10 second glance in my mouth and my cleaning split into two

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Will Miss #222 - a little bit of everything

The Japanese have a belief that healthy eating requires that you eat 30 different foods every day. You don't have to eat a ton of any one food, but the general presentation of food in Japan is one which incorporates variety. In the U.S., unless there is a special occasion, there are usually three parts to a meal, four at most. We have a meat, starch, and vegetable component that are sometimes

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Won't Miss #222 - outrageous oatmeal prices

Oatmeal is one of those utilitarian grains which you can buy relatively cheaply back home. In fact, besides the health benefits, one of the main reasons for choosing plain oatmeal as your breakfast grain of choice is how economical it is. A small box of (bulk, plain) oatmeal (300 grams/10.6 oz.) is nearly $4.00 (U.S.) in Japan. That's over $5 a pound and you can buy the same thing for under a

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Will Miss #221 - Western celebrities ads

This is a face which inspires you to buy tires and to believe that you are changing the world in doing so.
Now that the internet has made it difficult for any celebrity to hide the fact that he or she has chosen a fat paycheck to shill in Japan, it's not quite so novel seeing certain ads. That being said, it's still interesting seeing them firsthand, especially when the celebrities involved are

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Won't Miss #221 - "dirt" parks

Tokyo is a big city comprised of 23 main wards. Each ward is like a city itself. In fact, many students will say, "I live in (name of ward) city." Within each ward are other large neighborhoods. Most neighborhoods have one or two parks, sometimes more, within their boundaries. The vast majority of such parks are nothing more than stretches of dirt surrounded by trees and cultivated bins of

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Will Miss #220 - finding a communication key

One of the things that invariably happens when you live in a country where you do not speak the native language is that some things come up which you don't know the proper word for. This happens because some language is specialized, and you don't tend to learn it, or you learned it once, rarely used it, and simply forgot it. When this happens, you have to puzzle out a non-language-based way to

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Won't Miss #220 - paying for holiday ATM access

In the U.S., if you use the ATM of a bank other than your own, you have to pay a fee. This makes a little bit of sense because it's likely that there is some sort of special handling of electronic funds transferring between banks when you use a bank other than the one you keep an account in. In Japan, if you use an ATM of your own bank and it is a holiday or weekend, you have to pay a fee of 100

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Will Miss #219 - stockholders last

 There are a plethora of ways in which the Japanese do business differently than the rest of the world. This often causes problems for foreign partners, and for the Japanese branches of Western businesses in Japan, but certain choices are better for Japanese people. One of these differences is the order of priority when making decisions. The Japanese place customers first, employees second, and

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Won't Miss #219 - panty thieves

There used to be a commercial for video on demand services that showed a man who realizes as he's settling into bed that he forgot to return a rental DVD to the shop. He undergoes a series of difficulties as he finds a street blocked and he can't ride his bicycle except down a series of stone steps (which demolish his bicycle) and he has to run to the rental shop before midnight or pay an

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Will Miss #218 - Luna Vanilla Yogurt

Japan is a country which loves yogurt, and you can find a lot of varieties in the milk section of every market. Some of it is designed for health, and some for pure pleasure. For me, the most pleasurable of all is Luna Vanilla Yogurt. Frankly, it's so creamy, sweet and flavorful that I'd choose it over ice cream as a treat. The only thing I can't say about it is that it's particularly healthy or

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Won't Miss #218 - train seat pariah

One of the earliest indications that you are regarded as unappealing in the eyes of some Japanese people is the fact that they will get up and leave their seat if you (a foreigner) sit next to them. There's also the fact that people will choose not to sit next to you if you are a foreigner. Some foreigners believe that this is somehow the result of foreign folks doing something "wrong". They

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Will Miss #217 - koma inu

In front of some homes, and most temples in Japan, you see a pair of statues or figures of stylized dogs called "koma inu". They are meant as guardians and are related to Chinese guardian lions ("fu lions"). One of them always has its mouth open and the other has its mouth closed. They are like this because one makes the sound "ah" and the other "hum" (or "um"). I'm always interested in the

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Won't Miss #217 - cherry blossom viewing (the bad)

Many foreigners who have never been to Japan or who have only been here as tourists love to wax poetic about how zen and peaceful the cherry blossom viewing season is. They talk about the appreciation of nature and how it's a time to get together with family or friends and meditate. These are people who don't know what the vast majority of people engage in cherry blossom viewing for. It's really

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Will Miss #216 - cherry blossoms (the good)

The cherry blossoms in Japan are undeniably beautiful, and in the right spots, you can see the sort of thing that you dream of as a part of Japanese culture and life here. The blossoms fall gently from the trees like snow that has been tinted pink.

Walking through a nice park during the cherry blossom season can be a very peaceful and sublime experience, and I will miss it.

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Won't Miss #216 - super narrow streets

I don't drive a car, so you'd think that narrow streets wouldn't be a problem for me. You'd be wrong. There are several narrow connecting streets around my apartment. All of them are so small that a small truck can barely pass by them and when there is an electric or telephone pole, they have to slow to a crawl and cautiously creep by these slightly narrower spaces. Of course, trucks that do

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Will Miss #215 - discretion

There are vending machines everywhere in Japan, but I've noticed that certain types of machines (e.g., condom machines, marital aids dispensers) are discretely placed while others are out in the open (e.g., rice, soda). They're either behind barriers or in places where there isn't much foot traffic. I can't say for sure, but I think the positioning as well as the fact that these types of items

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Won't Miss #215 - shopping in Shibuya

Shibuya is one of the biggest shopping districts in Tokyo, and it is favored by young people. There are a lot of interesting places there including a wide variety of department and clothing stores, restaurants and the Apple Store nearest my home. While I like the places you can go to in Shibuya, I hate actually being there because of the crowds. Shibuya feels like it is too small for its

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Will Miss #214 - neighborly introductions

A towel I was given as a gift by a new neighbor when he introduced himself.
In Japan, there is a custom in which neighbors go door-to-door and introduce themselves when they first move into an apartment building. While this custom is not followed by every single Japanese person, it is done about 80% of the time in my experience. Usually, the new neighbor introduces himself or herself with some

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Won't Miss #214 - so many trash bins

I'm all for recycling, and I don't mind making the effort to sort my trash (though I'm less keen on the inefficient and troublesome washing of that trash). There is, unfortunately, an inevitable side effect to trash sorting and that's having to have a lot of different bins to place different trash in (or, in lieu of that, going through your garbage and separating it later which is disgusting

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Will Miss #213 - shopping in the rain

Shopping in Tokyo has always been stressful for me. I'm a person who is prone to feeling overstimulated. It's not something I can control. Some people have nervous systems which make lots of noise, crowds, lights, etc. overbearing, and I'm one of them. The shopping itself is often interesting, but the oppressive sense I get from being surrounded by oblivious, noisy crowds makes it an odious task

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Won't Miss #213 - The Daily Yomiuri

The Daily Yomiuri is the English language paper with the most subscribers in Japan. It's a pretty good newspaper at an economical price for those who want to enjoy a hard copy and keep up on the news in Japan. In fact, my husband and I subscribed to the Daily Yomiuri for quite some time. Eventually though, our status as subscribers was taken for granted, and the agency that delivered it decided

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Will Miss #212 - mikoshi

Summers in Japan are marked by local festivals. My earliest memories of summer in Japan include seeing men dressed in happi coats noisily (and joyously in most cases) hauling a portable shrine or mikoshi through the streets. This is not only a very "Japanese" thing, but also represents people from the same neighborhood coming together. It builds community spirit and keeps bonds strong.

I'll

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Won't Miss #212 - English warnings

The Japanese sales ethic is all about copious amounts of courtesy. You would be hard-pressed to find a written warning or caution for customers in Japanese which was written in rude language. On the other hand, it is quite easy to find rude or outright profane messages for customers written in English. You also find that many security-related messages are written only in English. In particular,

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Will Miss #211 - Super Heart Chiple

Cherry blossom viewers with a red bag of "Super Heart Chiple" (left) as part of their snack assortment (and, of course, the ever present mayonnaise).
Sometimes there are incredibly enjoyable treats lurking in the kid's snacks and cheap food bins of your local markets and convenience stores. Since they are made by less well-known (at least among foreigners) companies and can be had for less than

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Won't Miss #211 - archaic notions about gay men

A T-shirt worn by a young man serving food at a summer festival in Tokyo.
Many Japanese people have outdated ideas about what gay men want or are like. Many of them believe that gay men want to be women, and that they dress up and act like women. They think that some of them hate women because they view them as "competition" and that you can discern a gay man from his movements, speaking style

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Will Miss #210 - the longer intestines theory

This is okonomiyaki, a type of pancake filled with junk. It only resembles intestines. Japanese people can digest this just fine as it is indigenous cuisine.
The overwhelming majority of Japanese people who I meet believe that they have special digestive tracts. In particular, they believe that Japanese people "as a race" (their concept, not mine) have longer intestines than people from other

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Won't Miss #210 - Japanese laundry soap powder

This may be an issue for me mainly because I have always lived in Tokyo, but I have never had good experiences with Japanese laundry powder. There are several problems that I have with it. The first is that it doesn't dissolve in the cold water that you have no choice but to wash with. The second is that it always draws damp before I can use even a small box up. Invariably, I am left with large,

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Will Miss #209 - koi

Koi have to be some of the luckiest fish in the world. They're essentially "pet" fish which are freaking huge. If you go to parks or places where they are kept, you find that they are very aggressive because they have no fear of humans. They'll often come to the surface of the water in droves seeking food. As someone who grew up with a father who fished and never experienced what might be seen

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Won't Miss #209 - friendship issues

There are a lot of problems with being a foreigner and trying to make friends (as opposed to friendly acquaintances) with Japanese people. The primary problem is that you are always seen as an outsider, and always will be one. Japanese society isn't one which has been based on the integration of various cultures nor does the culture typically embrace diversity (not even amongst themselves).

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Will Miss #208 - healthy portion sizes

This picture is supposed to be ironic in light of the contents of this post. I thought I'd better make that clear for the humor-impaired.
When I say "healthy", I don't mean "big", but rather the right size for a person to consume and maintain a healthy body weight. Like many foreigners who first arrive in Japan, I thought that the portion sizes were puny for the cost and was critical of them

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Won't Miss #208 - finding bras that fit

This item should come as no surprise to most people. Given that Japanese women are petite, and not known worldwide for their ample bosoms, it's easy to imagine that getting the right size bra if you are a foreign woman of ample endowment can be difficult. For the record, the average cup size in Japan is "B" and the largest size that is generally available is 90 cm. (35.4 in.). The average in

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Will Miss #207 - onigiri

When I first started living in Japan, I was confused and squeamish about a lot of the food. One of the few things I could grab and eat "safely" on the run was onigiri or "rice balls". My favorite was the tuna, which was blessedly familiar in composition with a dab of tuna and mayonnaise in its center. Taken by itself, rice can be relatively bland, but onigiri often spice up the mix with various

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Won't Miss #207 - umbrella thieves

Long, plastic sleeves for wet umbrellas are offered next to the stand. 
Umbrellas are everywhere in Tokyo. People frequently forget them on trains and in the holders outside of shops. You can also buy cheap plastic ones for 300-500 yen ($3.22-$5.37) if you are caught unprepared for a downpour. Every year the Tokyo Metro has a sale of unclaimed items that are left on trains and umbrellas make up

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Will Miss #206 - every street an adventure

I've lived in the same neighborhood for 20 years, but there are still streets that I've never gone down. While sometimes there's nothing to see when you head off in a particular direction, most of the time there is something you might never have imagined. Sometimes you find beautiful old houses. Sometimes peculiar little restaurants or shops. Sometimes you just find some odd architectural or

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Won't Miss #206 - troublesome water heating

A selection of shower water heaters. Note the plethora of knobs and dials.
One thing which I find a cumbersome and irritating chore day-in and day-out  is having to fuss with the mechanism in my shower for getting the water to come out hot. Even though I have a new water heater and not some antique system, I still have to go through a process every night where I turn a crank about 10 times while

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Will Miss #205 - Buddhas

I like Buddha statues, even though I'm not a real Buddhist (though I embrace at least some principles of Buddhism). There are Buddha figures and statues everywhere in Japan, each in different poses and styles, and they all give me a sense of peace or happiness. In the U.S., it's a largely Christian culture, but their symbolism is all about pain and suffering. I grew up with pictures of Jesus

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Won't Miss #205 - NTT's badgering

My husband and I have used NTT's (Nippon Telephone and Telegraph - the equivalent of AT&T in the U.S.) services since we initially arrived in Japan. We started paying about $550 for a land line, because NTT had a monopoly and anyone who wanted a line had to put down a huge deposit. We then bought their ISDN service, then ADSL, then upgraded ADSL. As of late, NTT has been badgering us to upgrade

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Will Miss #204 - Unamerican American things

There are a lot of products in Japan which have the prefix "American" which are nothing at all like what is sold in America. For instance, a weird batter-dipped hot dog (resembling a corn dog, but not really the same thing) is sold as an "American dog" and there are Tabasco-flavored chips sold as "American Potato Chips." One of the most pervasive ones is "American coffee", which is rather

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Won't Miss #204 - willful (and pointless) littering

I realize that littering happens everywhere. Of course, in the U.S., this sort of thing carries heavy fines. It supposedly does in Japan, too, but the police don't enforce the law on this point. When I was back home, hucking your trash onto the street would cost you $300 if you were seen. The Japanese are no exception to being litter bugs. As I have said before, they are not as clean as

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Will Miss #203 - golden week

Carp streamers are hung in anticipation of "boy's day" or "children's day".
Back home, we have our longest holiday seasons in the autumn (Thanksgiving) and winter (Christmas and New Year's). There are random days off here and there in spring, but no long holidays when everyone gets to take several days off. In Japan, "Golden Week" starts in the last week of April and continues into the first

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Won't Miss #203 - working weekends

 I know a lot of people feel that English teachers are the career bottom feeders of Japan, but the truth is that I'm much more satisfied teaching English than I ever was in my 12 years as an office-dwelling wage slave pushing around papers and staring at a computer screen. There is, however, one drawback to being a teacher and that is the necessity of working on weekends. Most people who study

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Will Miss #202 - Amazon Japan

I have never lived in a major city in the United States, and have only lived in a major city in Japan. I cannot speak for the speed of service of Amazon outside of Tokyo (or in U.S. cities), but I can say that, in my experience, they are incredibly impressive. When I order an item, it's common for it to arrive in under 24 hours. In Japan, many mail order businesses have a warehouse distribution

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Won't Miss #202 - "Irasshaimase"

The sign on the step in red says "irasshaimase".
Japan is plagued by noise pollution, and the custom of shouting "irasshaimase" (essentially 'welcome') every time a customer walks into an establishment only makes it worse. At our favorite yakitori place, dining pleasure is constantly undermined by the loud choruses of "irasshaimase" every time a customer walks in the door. It's not even one

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Will Miss #201 - blood type personality theories

Books about blood type on sale at a 100-yen shop.
One of the more curious aspects of Japanese culture is that they've concocted a way of "predicting" personality based on blood type. They believe that certain traits come along with certain types, and that various types are better matrimonial matches than others. I have always believed that this is the consequence of having a culture where people

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Won't Miss #201 - lack of central air/heating

A small space heater which uses gas and has an open flame. This was the type of space heater we used for well over a decade. It was great for heating a space rapidly, but a little dangerous. The cost is $194 U.S.
I know that foreign folks are renowned for whining about the lack of central air conditioning and heating in many parts of Japan. People who criticize these complaints think that the

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Will Miss #200 - Okashi no Machioka

After you've lived in Japan for awhile, all of the big things tend to fade into the background and it's the little daily things that bring you the most pleasure. Since I write a Japanese snack review blog, finding someplace like Okashi no Machioka has brought me a wealth of pleasure. It is a chain of snack shops which carries a rich variety of snack foods from sembei to cookies to hard candies

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Won't Miss #200 - lack of cultural sensitivity

The flip-side of the previous post about a lack of political correctness is that there is also a lack of cultural sensitivity in Japan. The same attributes which stop Japanese people from overreacting and applying hysterical political correctness to certain words or issues fuels their lack of understanding about what can be seen as or is an offensive portrayal of people from other cultures.

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Will Miss #199 - lack of political correctness

Political correctness would stop an American manufacturer from naming a product "Oriental Fruits Assort."
This is a tricky topic because I don't really mind the idea of political correctness (PC) in the service of a minority group's feelings, particularly in the many cases where there is a good reason for such sensitivity. For instance, I think Native Americans shouldn't be called "Indians"

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Won't Miss #199 - unsuitable makeup colors

Most of the makeup in Japan, unsurprisingly, is sold for women who have very dark brown eyes, black hair (brows, eyelashes), and a certain skin tone. When you have red hair, blue eyes, and a very pale skin tone, most of the make-up isn't going to flatter your coloring. Most of the mascara and eye liner is, of course, black which is really too dark for me.

I won't miss finding that the vast

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Will Miss #198 - Japanese movie posters

One of my husband's and my most prized possessions from our stay in Japan is a Monty Python and the Holy Grail Japanese movie poster. Perhaps we're giant dorks, but the movie posters having Japanese writing on them just makes them cooler to us. Of course, the poster designs are also different from those back home in many cases. We've got a collection of movie posters that we have bought since

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Won't Miss #198 - stock blockers

Aisles in shops in Tokyo are narrow, as I've mentioned before. One of the things that seems to happen often when I'm shopping is that an employee (or several employees) will largely or completely block the aisle while you're trying to shop. This happens nearly every day. I can understand that they have a job to do, but more often than not, they won't move when you need to get by or they leave

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Will Miss #197 - cultural story exchanges

English language schools ("eikaiwa") and foreigners working in them get a bad rap among the foreign community in Japan, but I can say without hesitation that they are the best cultural exchange environments around. A big part of the reason for this is that foreigners who are studying Japanese tend to want to speak mundane Japanese for practice outside of the eikaiwa, and those who work in an

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Won't Miss #197 - condoms that are too small

There is an effort among some foreign women married to Japanese men to dispel what they believe is the "myth" that Japanese men have smaller penises than foreign men based on their (statistically insignificant) personal experiences. I have no interest in myths, but I do know some facts. The fact of the matter is that penis size in a given population relates not to the size of the men, but the

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Will Miss #196 - a ritual for everything

One of my students is an older gentleman who pays me in cash at the end of the lesson. There is a certain awkwardness associated with handing money over to someone with whom you have a teacher/student relationship because of the atmosphere of friendliness and cordiality in what is essentially a business relationship. The Japanese have a way of addressing this and many other potentially awkward

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Won't Miss #196 - no English Subtitles

If you see a movie like "Avatar" or "Lord of the Rings", there are made-up languages used during certain points of the movie. Even though the movie is in English, there is no way to understand fictional languages without subtitles (unless you're a big geek and speak fluent Elvish). Even if you read Japanese fast enough or well enough, it is disruptive to your enjoyment of the movie to be torn

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Will Miss #195 - housewives being valued

In the U.S., women who stay at home and are either housewives or stay at home mothers have to fight a battle to be appreciated. They're often seen as lazy, bon-bon-eating slackers who lounge about the house all day and mooch off of their employed husbands. I realize that is an exaggeration, but I would wager that most American women feel a need to justify their choice not to work. In Japan, the

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Won't Miss #195 - platinum jewelry

A sign about platinum jewelry.
Among my married students, I have never seen one wear a ring made of gold. Every married person I've ever met in Japan has a platinum wedding band. In fact, Japan buys 85% of the world's platinum jewelry. Considering that they have less than 2% of the world's population, that's some pretty impressive conspicuous consumption. I've never gotten a straight answer as to

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Will Miss #194 - bontan ame

One thing that tends to happen as you get older is that you prefer things that aren't so sweet when you indulge in treats. We often hear that Japanese candies aren't as sweet as American ones, and, speaking very generally, that is true (though it isn't always true by a long shot). One of the candies which I've discovered here that nicely replaces sweet American candies like Sunkist Fruit Gems is

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Won't Miss #194 - lack of grass

Some of the things I write about in this blog may be similar all over Japan, and some are highly localized. This one is definitely related to not only living in Tokyo, but my particular area. I live in a residential area, but it's almost all concrete. My guess is this is because it's so close to Shinjuku, a major business, government, and shopping center. Our location is great because it makes

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Will Miss #193 - sound translation mistakes

When I first started working in Japan, I worked in Ikebukuro not too far from a large building called "Sunshine City". One of my earliest experiences with the sound translation problems from Japanese to English came when students talked about this building in lessons. In Japanese, "si" and "shi" are often used interchangeably so people would say, "Sunshine Shitty". I never laughed when the

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Won't Miss #193 - blaming U.S. fast food

Japanese people have been getting heavier as the decades roll by, and if you ask them why, most of them will blame Western food. In particular, they, and many foreigners who live here, will blame the encroachment of American fast food places like McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and KFC. Many hiss and boo at the United States and blame them for distorting the traditional Japanese diet and making the

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Will Miss #192 - mayo mania

Japanese people are crazy about mayonnaise. I don't mean that they enjoy it as a condiment like many Americans. It's like a fifth food group to them. One of my former coworkers used to buy a bowl of instant ramen and a tube of Kewpie mayonnaise (which held about 4 tablespoons of mayo) and he'd squeeze the entire contents into his ramen. There are also mayo snacks and in bakeries you find bread

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Won't Miss #192 - bribing to procreate

The Japanese government created a program that will pay parents 13,000 yen (about $140) a month for every child they have.* This money, which will come from taxes I pay, is meant to encourage the Japanese to have more kids by alleviating the burden on them financially. I have several problems with this point. First of all, 13,000 yen is a pittance. It is unlikely to encourage anyone who has

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Will Miss #191 - Sharp

One of the biggest surprises for my husband and I (and something which stands in sharp contrast to our experiences with Sony, no pun intended) is how good Sharp's domestic products are. We had a Sharp oven for about 15 years, and are still using a Sharp television that is about 18 years old and still working perfectly. Not only are their products good, but they tend to be reasonably priced and

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Won't Miss #191 - Sony

One of the things I thought when I first arrived in Japan was that I would now have access to a lot of cool Sony products at a (likely) lower price than I experienced in the U.S. I don't know what Sony's reputation is at the moment, but when I arrived here, Sony was considered a premium brand name for electronics. I quickly learned something about Sony's domestic products, and that is the fact

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Will Miss #190 - hot vended drinks

One of my first experiences of "whoah, that's unusual" when I came to Japan for a vacation in 1989 was was with the fact that drinks are sold in bottles and cans heated. While you can buy hot drinks in the U.S., they're usually from specialty machines like coffee machines that drop a cup and liquid pours down into it. In Japan, you find that hot and cold drinks are sold from the same machine

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Won't Miss #190 - misunderstanding "vegetarian"

When I first came to Japan, I was a "quasi-vegetarian". That is, I never ate red meat of any kind, and mainly focused on chicken or on avoiding all meat. Trying to be even "quasi-vegetarian" in Japan is difficult because many restaurants don't understand what it means. You can ask if there is meat in a dish, and they'll say there is not, but then you'll get something with minced meat pieces in

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Will Miss #189 - the Suica Card system

Japan is still largely a "cash-based" society. That means that the Japanese aren't embracing the idea of debit cards* that withdraw money automatically from their bank accounts. However, Japan is also technologically advanced (and inclined) and companies are always pushing to make life more convenient. They have come up with a system which allows them to have the benefits of the debit system

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Won't Miss #189 - time zone adjustments

One of my friends always says that I "live in the future", because it's usually tomorrow here and yesterday there. I talk to this friend in California (the west coast of the U.S.) and my sister in Pennsylvania (east coast) several times a week and there's always adjusting to be done to try and work out what time(s) it is for them when it's whatever time it is for me. This situation is

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Will Miss #188 - wabi sabi

Plum blossoms bloomed and then died within a week at a house near mine. Taking the time to appreciate their transient beauty and even recognizing its passing are a part of wabi sabi.

The concept of "wabi sabi" is often talked about in Japan, but it's one of those things that is a little difficult to explain. You can read the full definition in the linked Wikipedia page, but it is the

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Won't Miss #188 - expensive, hard to find tortillas

Ten small (6 in./15 cm.) tortillas for $5.33 (472 yen).
I like to make Mexican or Tex-Mex food, and have actually made my own tortillas on occasion. Unfortunately, it's a labor-intensive, time-consuming process rolling them out and cooking them one at a time. I can spend an hour making them or spend a pretty penny buying them. What is more, I can only get them in the freezer section at one shop

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Will Miss #187 - soft socialism

Japan has some overt forms of socialism such as the national health insurance scheme. It also has some forms of what I call "soft socialism." This is where pressure is indirectly placed on companies to do what is best for society rather than their bottom line. Large companies in particular will often hire more people than absolutely necessary if they can reasonably manage to do so as a way of

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Won't Miss #187 - consensus that's not

Back in the 80's when Japanese businesses were scooping up high profile real estate in the U.S. and the Japanese were calling Americans lazy and stupid, many books were written about Japanese business style and how it accomplished such great economic success. At that time, people talked about how Japanese made decisions by consensus and how getting everyone on board played a part in making

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Will Miss #186 - safe, really fresh eggs

Often I read women talking about their eating habits in America and they mention eating things like "egg white omelets" or "egg beaters". If you told the average Japanese person that Americans toss out the yolk or eat substitute eggs, they'd think you were mentally deficient. Japanese people love eggs, and they eat them in a variety of forms including raw. Because eggs are so important in their

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Won't Miss #186 - bleaching everything

The Japanese are obsessed with keeping things clean and new looking. That means that they see ordinary wear or mundane staining as unacceptable. To this end, they seem to think pouring bleach all over everything is good. At my office, coffee and tea cups were regularly bleached en masse, as were tea pots. The office manager even tried to bleach dirty trash cans (which didn't work as they

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Will Miss #185 - architectural accommodation

Sometimes there are cultural difference clues right in front of you, and you either don't notice them or understand what they mean. Take the design of the house in the picture above. You can see that it has a third floor with an extreme slope such that the room at the top is quite small (and certainly oddly shaped). The reason for this is the focus on sunlight in Japan is very high. Everyone has

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Won't Miss #185 - noodles, everywhere

Noodles are everywhere in Japan. Every time a restaurant that I like fails in my neighborhood, it is replaced by yet another boring noodle shop (because they're almost sure bets to succeed). Besides the copious numbers of soba and ramen shops, you can buy a plethora of noodle varieties in markets. There are some Japanese men who eat noodles, particularly ramen, every single day and others who

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Will Miss #184 - the Sato Elephant

Two Japanese corporate icons greeted me outside of establishments since I first arrived in Japan. One was the Fujiya girl, who vanished when the Fujiya sweets shop went away about a decade ago, and the other is the Sato elephant. Like Colonel Saunders, he gets dressed differently based on the seasons and holidays. Unlike the Colonel, he's a very Japanese icon. There is something about the

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Won't Miss #184 - sidewalk right of way problems

I have problems all the time with people on the sidewalks and dealing with who has the "right of way", and this is an issue in a crowded city with relatively narrow sidewalks. It has always been my impression that people are supposed to ride bikes or travel to the left as that follows the side that cars drive on. In fact, I was once told "hidari" (left) by a bicyclist when I was walking on the

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Will Miss #183 - Koenji Look Shopping Street

From the end of the shopping street where this picture was taken, Koenji's "Look" doesn't seem like much. However, it's like a trail that gets better and better as you go. From the end that opens on Ome Kaido Avenue near Shin Koenji station on the Marunouchi line, it leads to a plethora of shops with fashionable items directed toward the type of people who dye their hair blonde and red, wear

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Won't Miss #183 - close quarters in restaurants

Japanese people may not mind rubbing shoulders and bumping elbows with strangers while they slurp their soup, but I like my experience when I eat out to be comfortable. Because of the high cost of space in Tokyo, it's not the least bit uncommon for restaurants to place people almost on top of each other to maximize occupancy within a limited space. This sometimes means you barely can move your

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Will Miss #182 - not caring about how I look

Some foreigners complain or are surprised that other foreigners don't care about how they look or walk around dressed like bums when they live in Japan. The thing about living for a long time in a culture where you are objectified is that you stop caring about what strangers think of you. If you're going to be stared at and treated like some sort of animal that has escaped from the zoo anyway,

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Won't Miss #182 - attitudes toward rape

When I was in university, one of my psychology professors discussed rape and culpability for the crime. He asked if a woman who dresses provocatively, flirts, and is in a place where people frequently hook up for one-night stands is responsible, at least in part, for being raped. When some people in the class said she was, he then asked if a jewelry shop that had a beautiful display of necklaces

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Will Miss #181- Japanese garden ornamentation

I read a few lifestyle blogs that are devoted to home and garden styling, and I often encounter the notions of foreign people who have never been to Japan and what they think it's going to be like here. Most of them think it's all temple gates and immaculate gardens, not to mention minimalist living. The truth is that most people in cities use as much of their property as possible to build the

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Won't Miss #181 - NHK guys (or gals)

One of the things which I have had experience with since year one in Japan is NHK, Japan's public television network (like PBS, but with more channels) bugging me for money. The NHK guys (see armband on the fellow above) go door to door badgering you to pay them 2690 yen (about $30) per month for access to their channels. They say you have to pay it whether you watch their channels or not.

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Will Miss #180 - unexpected bursts of English

My husband was walking around the area outside of his office and the employees from McDonald's were milling about shouting about a new burger. Of course, they were shouting in Japanese, but when my husband momentarily made eye contact with one of the women, she shouted (in English), "it's delicious!" There's something delightful about these surprise communications coming at you out of the blue.

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Won't Miss #180 - seaweed-based snacks

There are a lot of people who love seaweed, or as the edible version is called in Japan, wakame. I say, more power to you folks for having the right palate to enjoy this highly nutritious (and cheap) form of plant life. Personally, I'm good with a little wakame floating around in my miso soup or in some stew. What I'm not good with is it being including as a major component in snack foods,

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Will Miss #179 - the koban system

While I am no fan of the Japanese police in general, I think that the koban (police box) system is a good one. In Tokyo, there are usually koban not 5 minutes from my apartment in several directions. These little buildings in which officers keep watch are at hand if you have a question (often about directions), a problem, or need a place to run because some weirdo is following you (not as

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Won't Miss #179 - Low Glass Ceiling

A rare female conductor on the JR line points to signal that all is ready for departure. People like to say that the situation in Japan has improved a lot for women over the past several decades, but the glass ceiling is still set quite low relative to Western countries. Women are still barred from doing jobs that men have deemed too dangerous, dirty or physically taxing for them. Whether or not

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Will Miss #178 - pale is good

I'm fair-skinned, and red-haired. That means that I have three states - white, freckled, and lobster. There is no such thing as brown or tanned skin for the likes of me. Back home, that means my complexion is likened to such lovely things as beached whales, dead bodies, and geeks who live in their parents' basement. In Japan, white skin is seen as more appealing than that which has been nicely

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Won't Miss #178 - English graffiti

Almost all of the graffiti that you see in Tokyo is in English. It's very rare to see any Japanese characters at all. I believe there are several reasons for this. One possibility is that they feel more freedom to express themselves in a foreign language. Another possibility is that the vandals are either intentionally or unconsciously trying to distance themselves from their actions (which are

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Will Miss #177 - chicken breast with skin

Japanese people eat chicken skin. When I say that, I don't mean they just eat the skin when they cook chicken. You can buy grilled chicken skin in some bars and restaurants (nothing but skin). You can also buy packs of skin at some butcher shops. For me, I'm not a fan of eating the skin, but I do prefer that it is on my chicken breasts because if you cook this cut without the skin, it's very

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Won't Miss #177 - ground beef and pork mix

A poster at MOS Burger fast food restaurants that advertises the fact that their burgers are a pork and beef mixture, which appeals more to Japanese tastes than 100% beef burgers (which Western burger chains sell).
My husband likes beef. Personally, I'm not a fan of it, but I cook the occasional hamburger or ground beef-based recipe for him. The thing is that most (but not all) of the ground meat

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Will Miss #176 - ginkgo trees

Trees are not something that are necessarily abundant in Tokyo, but I live in a ward which has a tree as its icon and that has lined the main street near my home with ginkgo trees. In the autumn, they shed uniformly golden leaves that beautifully blanket the sidewalks at night, and that vanish the next morning when shopkeepers scramble to clear them away. In summer and spring, they add much

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Won't Miss #176 - Japanese book stores

I used to love going into book stores back home and perusing the shelves for something of interest, but the experience just isn't the same in Japan. I'm not a fluent reader of Japanese, and even if I were better at it, I wouldn't be reading Japanese books for pleasure as I don't need an added dose of linguistic challenge with my reading time. Reading is something that I do when I have precious

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Will Miss #175 - unabashed appreciation of food

One day while I was working in my office, the president's daughter, who had been coerced into working by her parents, was sitting at her desk eating a "Queenie Muffin". As she ate it, she made the equivalent of, "mmmm, mmmm" sounds. She wasn't ashamed to let it be known that it was really good and that she enjoyed food. In fact, most Japanese people aren't afraid to show their appreciation for

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Won't Miss #175 - shopping carts for kids

In the U.S., there are big shopping carts and you can seat your kids in a section of the cart. There were no carts which are small and specifically designed for kids to push around and load purchases into when I lived in the U.S. In Japan, at least a third of the supermarkets I frequent have the equivalent of a cart which is pushed around or primarily designed for the kid to drive (often alone).

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Will Miss #174 - local straw goods shop

On the corner leading to the street that comes to my apartment, there's a little shop that sells items made from straw. Mostly, these include brooms, but there are also woven items like baskets. This shop is run by a little old man who was ancient when I arrived 20 years ago, and seems to be little older now. Every time I approach my apartment, I see this little shop, and I wonder how the old man

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Won't Miss #174 - expensive glasses and contacts

My brother-in-law (also an American) has lived in Japan for just a bit longer than my husband and I. In fact, he came here for the first time when he was 19 (in 1983) and has lived here on and off since then. When he needs new eyeglasses, he gets a prescription in Japan and then sends it home for his father to get the glasses from the U.S. (using his father's face to fit them). This is because

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Will Miss #173 - Yakult drinks and ladies

I've not been a big follower of Yakult beverages, but I've seen the ladies on their bikes since I arrived. There's something quaint about the way these women on bicycles visit offices to peddle their wares. Also, though I'm not a huge fan of the drink, I find it pleasant enough and the fact that it's almost certainly a quick, easy and convenient way to ingest probiotics when you think you might

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Won't Miss #173 - watching crap TV because it's in English

Yes, I watched the horror of Bridget Jones 2 just because it was what was on in English. Sometimes you're sitting at home having a bad day, feeling sick, or just generally lethargic. You don't feel like tangling with anything that taxes your limited mental resources and you turn on the T.V. for a little passive entertainment. The last thing you want to do is try to tangle with a foreign language

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Will Miss #172 - access for the blind

What Japan lacks in services for the handicapped (Won't Miss #167), it makes up for in accommodation of the blind. Since I first arrived in Japan, I have noticed that there are bumpy yellow dots at stopping points at crosswalks and on train platforms so the blind can feel where to stand. I've also noticed that braille is used in many places. What is more, Japanese money is designed to be easy for

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Won't Miss #172 - love/hate relationship with Korea

A local shop sells calendars featuring Korean idols.Japan has had a long history of difficulties with Korea and the level of pettiness that is sometimes displayed in the media as a result of their troubled international relationship is often painful. The Japanese media criticize tiny things like the "uncivilized way" Koreans mix all of the ingredients of a dish into the rice so that all of the

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Will Miss #171 - love of "Downy"

One of my students is always happy when she comes to her private tutoring session in my apartment just after I have done laundry. The reasons she likes this is that I happen to use Downy fabric softener (as it is cheap in gigantic bottles at Costco). She loves the smell of Downy, and she's not alone. An import shop not too far from my apartment has a huge sections up front of nothing but fabric

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Won't Miss #171 - Japanese sugar wafers

Sugar wafers were one of my favorite treats back home. I rarely indulged in them, but when I did, I savored the experience. In Japan, wafers are sold nearly everywhere, and they all taste like pretty much nothing. The wafers themselves are usually fine, but the filling is slippery, soft, fatty goo with no flavor. This is because the Japanese don't like things as sweet as Westerners, but also

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Will Miss #170 - "the advocate"

For those who can't read Japanese, the shop's name is "Don Quixote". I place the picture here tongue in cheek.Most English speakers know the saying, "necessity is the mother of invention". This saying generally applies to technology, but it also applies to social changes. With only 2% of Japan's population being foreign, Japan has not had much in the way of necessity when it comes to the rights

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Won't Miss #170 - being refused service

There are several bicycle repair shops in my immediate area, and every time I walk past one of them, I feel just a little irritated. The reason for this is that my husband and I were refused service at this shop. While the "no gaijins allowed" situation isn't as bad as it used to be, it still happens. The main difference between now and 10-20 years ago is that the printed signs in windows telling

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Will Miss #169 - Tyrant Habanero

Snack maker Tohato produces a line of very hot and spicy snacks featuring a mascot who looks like the spawn of an evil jack-o-lantern and a chili pepper. The original Tyrant Habanero (pictured above) product is potato-based salted snack rings with a red powder that gets hotter and hotter as you tunnel to the bottom of the bag. Since then, more tasty, spicy-hot products under the same line have

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Won't Miss #169 - not wanting to leave the house

I used to think that this particular problem was something only I suffered from because I'm a highly sensitive person who gets overstimulated easily, but I have read on quite a few personal blogs that other women in Japan feel the same way. That feeling is one of not wanting to leave your house because you just aren't in the mood to be the center of unwanted attention. It's not any one act by one

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Will Miss #168 - ladies shaving

During my first few years in Japan, one of my coworkers told me something which surprised me. She told me that there were special disposable razors sold in Japanese stores for women, and I told her that that was no surprise as such razors are sold in the U.S. for women as well. That was no shock. The surprise was that these razors were for women to shave their faces. She told me that she'd

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Won't Miss #168 - a lack of seedless grapes

Japan is a country that has growers making square watermelons because the natural shape isn't convenient enough, yet they do not seem to have embraced seedless grapes. I'm not a big baby about preparing fruit when it comes to seed removal and peeling, but grapes with seeds are a huge pain because you're constantly spitting out little nasty seed parts and they're gross if you accidentally bite

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Will Miss #167 - Japanese architectural elements

Some people who haven't been to Japan seem to believe that it's all soaring skyscrapers, avant garde buildings, neon and large television displays, temples, and quaint little Japanese homes. The truth is that it's about 80% (or more) beige or gray boxes with no aesthetic appeal whatsoever (at least in Tokyo) because most of the old houses which were built in a Japanese style have been torn down.

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Won't Miss #167 - poor accomodation of the handicapped

Often I will see people in wheelchairs parked outside of shops uncomfortably waiting for something or other. What I have discovered is that, because the shops are narrow and won't accommodate their chairs, they either have to have someone go into the shop and buy something for them, or ask the shopkeepers themselves to bring out what they want. There's a man who lives close to me who lost his

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Will Miss #166 - exposure to European culture

Japanese people like to say that their country is an "international" one. My former boss and I used to scoff at this notion since there is so frequently a lack of understanding of other cultures, particularly in terms of the broader psychology of the people of other lands. In some sense, Japan is still very insular and not very international. In another sense, and I mean in terms of its

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Won't Miss #166 - bound and decapitated trees

One of the things which happens as a result of people living practically on top of each other in Tokyo is that the nature on their respective properties has to be kept in line. I know that trees are cut down, pruned, and managed everywhere in the world, but the level at which they are brutalized into submission in Tokyo sometimes makes me cringe as it so often exceeds what I grew up with in terms

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Will Miss #165 - Tirol candies

Since starting my Japanese snack reviews blog, I've formed an ambivalent relationship with Tirol candies. I love their concept, which is very small, affordable bits of candy with collectible wrappers that they provide a gallery of on their web site. I also love some of the flavors, but I think that their variety packs of non-premium candies are often pretty crappy and they have a bad habit of

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Won't Miss #165 - stacked bike parking

When I first saw the type of bicycle parking in the picture above, I thought it was an ingenious way of allowing more bikes to park in a limited space. After I had to start using that type of parking, I felt rather less impressed. Sure, this is a space efficient method, but it's a pain to use. I'm not a puny woman, but I'm not particularly strong and I have some back issues. Hauling the bikes

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Will Miss #164 - the mundane becomes special

Recently, a cake shop near my house put up a display which included one of those hollow chocolate Easter bunnies that I used to receive every year in my Easter basket as a child. I was momentarily mesmerized by the unexpected appearance of this slice of culture from home as I hadn't seen one of these in 20 years. The most mundane aspects of life back home, things that you see everywhere and are

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Won't Miss #164 - Horumon

In the past few years, horumon (ホルモン), or beef and pork offal (that's the stuff we throw away like guts and organs), restaurants have been popping up in more places in Japan. I'm guessing that part of the reason for this has been the sagging economy, but this cuisine has been around for a long time. I realize that there is nothing necessarily wrong with eating these things, and it's actually a

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Will Miss #163 - extended family concept

In the U.S., there is a negative stereotype associated with being an adult child who lives with his parents. In Japan, that's simply the norm for many people. The family here isn't parents and children. It's often parents, children, and grandparents. This concept means that elderly parents are cared for by their kids until such time as their medical needs exceed the families ability to care for

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Won't Miss #163 - Japanese artificial sweeteners

Artificial sweeteners in Japan are expensive, usually not zero calorie, and are not as sweet as those back home. In part, I'm sure this is because the market for such things is not as large in Japan as it is in the West and tastes don't run toward as much sweetness as we want in the U.S. That being said, I personally use such sweeteners in my coffee and tea because I'd rather not bath my teeth in

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Will Miss #162 - tanuki

While it may seem that I like tanuki ("raccoon dogs") statues being present in Japan because it tickles my inner tittering juvenile nature, that's not actually the case. I like these statues because their presence says something about the Japanese people. It says that they aren't so hung up on seeing genitalia that they would nix the idea of putting a representation of an animal with a giant

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Won't Miss #162 - Japanese toilets

In this bathroom diagram from a train station, the solid toilets are Japanese-style and the ones with a hollow center are Western-style.It probably surprises everyone that it has taken me 323 posts to get to the subject of Japanese toilets. They are often talked about (and reviled) by newcomers to Japan. What many neophytes don't know, but will soon realize, is that the Japanese also dislike

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Will Miss #161 - beautiful, abundant, cheap tea sets

Because Japan is a country with a long history of tea-related culture, you can get teapots and tea sets nearly anywhere. In fact, you can buy some decent pots at 100 yen shops. Second-hand stores often have very nice sets of pots with cups or just cups that are obviously new (wrapped in their original paper and boxes). One near my home appears to have an endless supplier of them and it takes

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Won't Miss #161 - converting the calendar

That's right. It's March 1, and the year is 22.The Japanese use both the Gregorian calendar years that Western folks use and their own system based on the number of years that the current emperor has been in power. The current emperor's calendar is referred to with "Heisei". This year is Heisei 22. Any time one does business with the government, and in some cases fills out various forms for other

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Will Miss #160 - Doutor

There are a lot of coffee shop chains in Tokyo including Starbucks and Starbucks wannabes. Before the Seattle coffee invasion, there was Doutor. Frankly, I've rarely had their coffee (and thought it was just "okay" when I did have it), but I love their freshly made, somewhat elegant, warm and not gut-busting sandwiches. They used to have a chicken bagel sandwich which had a soft, toasted bagel

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Won't Miss #160 - peeping Toms

I can't speak for everywhere in Japan, but Tokyo has issues with "peepers" or "peeping Toms". Women have to be very careful to keep their curtains drawn if they don't want some pervert to find a vantage point and watch them. I'm not sure why this is relatively common in Japan, but I suspect it has to do with a variety of social and (pop) cultural factors. Japanese men are notoriously "shy" about

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Will Miss #159 - easily scaring off solicitors

Newspaper salespeople are a scourge in Tokyo. They frequently come to the door and sometimes aggressively try to convince people to buy subscriptions. I've been told by my Japanese acquaintances that sometimes the salespeople get angry and rude if they are turned down. Some even bang on the door, try to grab the door and yank it open, and one apparently tossed something angrily at a door. Being

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Won't Miss #159 - mail order limitations

One of the most frustrating things about living in Japan (or abroad in general) is that you can't order many items from the U.S. and have them shipped abroad. This is often so for computer and electronic items as well as software, but also clothing, packaged food items, and kitchenware. The electronics and sundry household items are limited because allowing goods sold more cheaply in the U.S. to

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Will Miss #158 - easy acess to service centers

My husband and I bought a Nikon camera from Amazon in the U.S. (because it's cheaper than Japan) and had it shipped to his parents in California. My husband picked it up when he visited them. Shortly after getting back to Japan, the camera broke and we were able to take it directly to a Nikon service center about 10 minutes from us by subway. And we got to repeat that about a week later when it

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Won't Miss #158 - loud gulping in drink commercials

Some time ago, I can't recall when, Japanese beverage manufacturers decided that the experience of sucking down a can of beer would be more appealing to consumers if they showed someone with their head thrown back pouring the contents directly down their throat (bypassing that pesky tongue and taste buds) while playing a loud exaggerated swallowing noise. I hate that sound effect with the

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Will Miss #157 - doll festival displays

March 3 is the doll festival in Japan. During this festival, parents with daughters set up a (sometimes elaborate) display of dolls representing a royal court. Businesses also put up large or small displays as a way of promoting their goods or simply as a way of being a festive part of the season. The dolls are often beautiful and some are unique representations (like favorite pop culture

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Won't Miss #157 - gaijin ignoring gaijin

I wrote an article for Tokyo Journal at one point about a phenomenon which every foreigner ("gaijin") will experience sooner or later (likely sooner) when visiting Japan. If you see another foreigner on the street and smile, wave, say hello, or nod, at least 30% of the time, if not more, the other foreigner will ignore you. This happens for a variety of reasons which I spent 800 words saying in

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Will Miss #156 - bodily function free talk

In one of my earliest experiences in Japan, a student told me that she was not feeling well because she had had "loose bowls" (meaning "bowels", or diarrhea). I was surprised to hear her tell someone who was, but mere moments ago, a total stranger, that she was spending a lot of time in the toilet. It turns out that Japanese people are not squeamish about such things. I'm freely told about

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Won't Miss #156 - Japanese deodorant

Body chemistry does differ based on your biological history, and many Japanese people either do not use deodorant or don't need it. My husband is not Japanese (or of Asian descent) and he also does not need deodorant, so some Europeans also do not require it. Some people are just lucky, but not me...and not some Japanese people who really need it but seem clueless. One of the things I learned

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Will Miss #155 - Cozy Corner

While many Japanese cakes are pretty and lack taste, I do like Cozy Corner. It's not that all of their sweets are fabulous (though many are excellent), but rather that they offer a lot of variety in one place and many tiny little cakes, pies or puddings (as well as larger ones) that allow you to sample a wide variety of treats without buying or eating too much. Cozy Corner boxes are one of those

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Won't Miss #155 - Invasive Paternalism

Japan has a much more paternalistic culture than most Western countries. Sometimes, this is beneficial, but sometimes it is a step too far and violates privacy. For instance, many countries are having problems with obesity and Japan is no exception, though their problem is not nearly as severe as that in Western countries. In Japan, one of the current "solutions" to the problem is to have

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