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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