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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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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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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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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