Will Miss #83 - gift giving customs

Japan is a culture where relationships are oiled with presents. Though the custom is weakening a bit, it's still common for wrapped presents to be offered on certain occasions. When people travel, they often bring "souvenirs" back for their coworkers and other contacts in their lives. There are also summer and winter (ochugen and oseibo) gift giving seasons. Additionally, students are inclined to

Read More

Won't Miss #83 - squealing bicycle brakes

There's a particular type of bicycle in Japan which is marketed toward housewives. It's a cheap, but serviceable model which is sold new for between $80-120 (8,000-12,000 yen). This type of bike is called a "mama chari". That's "mama" for "mother" and "chari" is supposed to be the sound the bells on those bikes make. These bikes seem to have a common problem in that their brakes squeal horribly

Read More

Will Miss #82 - being able to hang out laundry

I've heard in America that some neighborhoods won't allow people to hang their clothes out to dry because of concerns that it'll look bad or lower the image of the neighborhood. Much as I hate having to hang out my laundry, I'm happy to be able to without a bunch of neighborhood busybodies getting their undies in a bunch over it spoiling the view. With current energy and environmental concerns,

Read More

Won't Miss #82 - needing to hang out laundry

Few homes in Tokyo have clothes dryers so you have to hang out your clothes to dry. Even those that have dryers find that Japanese dryers use low temperatures and take hours to dry clothes. I know because I used to have one and it was almost useless. I've been told that they use low temperatures to stop clothes from shrinking. At any rate, nearly everyone hangs out their clothes because this is

Read More

Will Miss #81 - Japanese punctuality

One of the core attributes of Japanese culture is their emphasis on punctuality. While people have become increasingly slack about being on time in social situations (largely due to the ubiquitous use of cell phones and the capability to easily notify others of how late they'll be), they are still quite careful about being on time when it matters like for business appointments or service meetings

Read More

Won't Miss #81 - cluelessness about reducing coin return

Before I ever set foot in Japan, I used to hear about how the Japanese were completely walloping Americans on math test scores. We were made to feel like our kids were hard-pressed to add 2 and 2 and come up with 4 while Japanese kids could do Calculus in seconds with the power of their mighty brains. After coming to Japan, let's say that I've been rather dissuaded from the notion that their math

Read More

Will Miss #80 - a lack of religious judgment

The Japanese are ostensibly Buddhist or Shinto in their religion, but the truth is that the vast majority just go through the rituals at various holidays with no real depth of spiritual feeling. Except for the odd Jehovah's Witness who rings your doorbell, life in Japan is mercifully devoid of proselytizers and people who tell you that you have to concern yourself with their particular religion's

Read More

Won't Miss #80 - being offered green cards

Because I'm using the internet from I.P. addresses which are recognized as being in Japan, I'm constantly getting advertising for green cards in America or sites telling me that I can become an American citizen.I won't miss these constant (and almost certainly shady) offers to become a citizen of a country of which I'm already a citizen.

Read More

Will Miss #79 - legal bootlegging

Everyone knows that bootleg recordings of concerts are sold through various sources worldwide. In the U.S., I used to buy these through various gray market sources via mail order. Occasionally, I'd run across the odd shop which stocked some bootlegs in some hippy area, but it was uncommon for such shops to stock only bootlegs or a plethora of them. In Tokyo, there are shops that sell nothing but

Read More

Won't Miss #79 - Japanese don't jaywalk myth

One of the most enduring and absolutely false myths is that the Japanese are so law-abiding that they will stand at a crosswalk in the dead of night on a deserted street and wait for the little man to go green and allow them to walk. The notion is that they are more concerned with not breaking the law than the point of that law. Trust me when I say that I see people crossing on a "don't walk"

Read More

Will Miss #78 - pop cross-cultural promotions

I love seeing Western pop culture icons like the Simpsons being used in Japan to promote things. Part of this is the familiarity, but a bigger part of it is the sense that I'm seeing something special which I wouldn't see in similar promotions back home. This probably harks back to my days of collecting Japanese releases of the rock band KISS. Even though the music was the same, the packaging and

Read More

Won't Miss #78 - having my Japanese mocked

The other day, I said "konnichiwa" (good day) to some people in the neighborhood as I was walking to a local shop and they said it back, but then just after my back was to them, they very loudly made fun of the way I said it. The care which they took to make sure they mocked me within earshot made it clear they wanted me to be embarrassed. Between the foreigners who correct my Japanese and the

Read More

Will Miss #77 - senior driver warnings

Japan has done something that the AARP would never allow in the United States. It has created a system which tags senior drivers with a decal (currently a tear drop which is half orange and yellow, but this will change soon). This allows other people who see them to exercise some caution because of the different driving habits of older people. Japan recognizes and acts on a reality, and that's

Read More

Won't Miss #77 - ridiculous butter prices

I'm not a big butter eater, but I do like to bake and cook. I particularly like to make things like peanut butter cookies as gifts for friends and students and to cook pork and chicken in a little butter. Starting a few years ago, butter prices, which hovered around 270 yen (about $2.70 USD) for 200 grams (2 sticks/1 cup) leaped up to around 400 yen ($4) for the same quantity. At that time, there

Read More

Will Miss #76 - custom "cards"

When I receive a card for any type of occasion in Japan, at least half of the time (if not more), the card is something custom or customized. It's very common, for instance, for Japanese people to write on a fan or to write on a large square of cardboard. Often, doodles or drawings will be added to a conventional greeting card or the aforementioned cardboard squares.These cards feel more special

Read More

Won't Miss #76 - earthquakes

I realize there are earthquakes in many places around the world, but I haven't lived in any of those areas and am not accustomed to experiencing the world shake around me at such relatively frequent intervals. Japan is located on the "Pacific Ring of Fire" and therefore experiences more quakes than places like California. Since I have no plans on moving to another location on the Ring of Fire in

Read More

Will Miss #75 - parasol use

Japanese women are nuts about avoiding the sun. Having "white skin" is seen as aesthetically more desirable than having a tan. To this end, you often see women using parasols when the sun is out, and even sometimes when it is not. There's something quaint and charming about this habit. It even has the air of old world feminine behavior. Though I've seen parasols being used for years here, it

Read More

Won't Miss #75 - apologists

If a cab driver in America said that he often didn't pick up Hispanic people seeking a ride because he could tell by looking at a particular person that he or she could not speak English very well, there is every chance that any but the most hardened bigot would take issue with such a ludicrous assertion. It's even less unlikely that a Hispanic person would defend the cab driver for his

Read More

Will Miss #74 - being a working housewife

In the U.S., my husband and I were hard-pressed to afford our own apartment on our combined incomes at full-time jobs (granted, we lived in silicon valley in California). In Japan, we've been able to do fine by having one of us work part-time and the other work full-time throughout most of our stay, and this is despite the fact that we live in one of the most expensive cities in the world. He

Read More

Won't Miss #74 - butts in bushes

During my earlier days in Japan, I used to work in Shinjuku, a major business district in Tokyo. On the corner near my office, there was a bowling-ball sized and shaped ashtray half-full of water. People would casually toss their cigarettes in there all day until it filled up and the water wasn't sufficient to put out the cigarettes. It smoldered and stunk badly. Those ashtrays were removed at

Read More

Will Miss #73 - being seen as "special" for no good reason

It is my opinion that many foreigners (of non-Asian descent) fall in love with and ultimately become addicted to life in Japan because they can be spectacularly ordinary, but are viewed as extraordinary merely by existing in this particular geographic location. People are more interested in you. You're often treated deferentially or invited to dinner, drinks, or parties even if you have no or a

Read More

Won't Miss #73 - the gaijin salary myth

Most Japanese people believe that foreigners are lavishly paid. I can't speak to how the myth that we're rolling in yen got started, but I can explain to some extent what it is based on. First of all, foreigners are paid on a monthly basis as are Japanese people. The difference is that many foreigners do not receive twice yearly seasonal bonuses like Japanese people do. In essence, the Japanese

Read More

Will Miss #72 - kinako

Kinako is toasted soybean powder. It tastes a bit nutty and has a distinctive flavor. Though I rarely use kinako powder for anything other than mochi, I am fortunate to have access to a wide variety of foods which use it as a flavoring. Chances are that I will be able to buy kinako powder, but not the foods that are flavored with it.I'll miss kinako snacks after I leave Japan.

Read More

Won't Miss #72 - tatami

There is no doubt in my mind that the use of tatami used to serve Japanese people well. In humid subtropical climates, I'm told that it helps with moisture and possibly even the heat. Unfortunately, it doesn't serve nearly so well in modern life. For one thing, the time when you can get by with a fan, a slice of salted watermelon, and wearing a yukata on the porch to cope with summer weather

Read More

Will Miss #71 - dressed up statues

When you first see a statue at a little shrine or temple dressed in modern clothes, it looks like someone has been playing a sacrilegious joke. The truth is that they are adorning the statue in red in accord with the meaning of the color in Shinto and Buddhist culture. In Japan, red is seen as driving off demons or disease. Red bibs, hats, etc. on statues of deities has spiritual significance,

Read More

Won't Miss #71 - socialized medicine (the abuse)

The piece of clip art pictured in this post comes from the front of the national health insurance guide. It nicely depicts exactly the sort of people who benefit the most from the system, the elderly and people with kids. They benefit because they are the ones who fret the most about health issues and run off to the doctor the most often. The system in Japan has built a culture where people seem

Read More

Will Miss #70 - socialized medicine (on the whole)

Japan has socialized medicine so no one has to worry about medical coverage. If you're working as a salaried employee, the deal is great because your company will pay 50% of the fees (which are about 10-15% of your annual income up to a cap of about $5500). This means there are no hassles for people with pre-existing conditions and people can get regular health maintenance checks. In fact, I'm

Read More

Won't Miss #70 - popcorn prices and availability

For some reason, popcorn kernels are very expensive and hard to find in Japanese markets. Sometimes, you can find a small plastic sleeve with about a cup of kernels, but more often than not you find a Jiffy-Pop style foil pan full of hydrogenated oil for a pretty absurd price considering the portion. While Japanese people aren't the biggest popcorn eaters in the world, it is sold (already popped

Read More

Will Miss #69 - Japanese blonds

In a country where kids get teased for having wavy or curly black hair and adult employees who have dyed their hair a shade of brown have to use a kind of black shoe polish applicator to hide their brown hair during working hours, seeing people who just go for the most shockingly different choice of hair color is inspiring. It's one thing to dye your hair green or fire engine red in countries

Read More

Won't Miss #69 - New Year's Waste

The temples and shrines in Japan have a system designed to help them sell as many good luck charms and New Year's items as possible each year. The way it works is that people are told that they must burn everything from the previous year or they will suffer bad luck. This results in huge piles of last year's flotsam being destroyed in highly polluting fires and essentially wastes the materials

Read More

Will Miss #68 - crosswalk competition

There was a "game" I started playing early on in my stay in Japan as a psychological test. The game is to stand at a crosswalk waiting for a light with a group of people that includes an older (45+) Japanese man and to stand comfortably off to the side of him, but just marginally closer to the crosswalk than he is. Eight times out of ten, he will edge ahead of you. If you nudge a little further

Read More

Won't Miss #68 - uchimizu

Uchimizu is the practice of pouring water on the ground, street or the sidewalk in order to keep dust down or cool the pavement in summer. Originally, this practice was done using collected water from rain and had some spiritual significance in addition to being utilitarian. However, in Tokyo, the effect of pouring a bucket or two of water on the sidewalk is about as useful as a nail file is in

Read More