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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