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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