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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