Will Miss #483 - Ameyokocho

One of the oldest shopping streets or shotengai in Tokyo is located in Ueno. It is called either "Ameyoko" or "Ameyokocho" and has one of the most unique atmospheres of any shopping area in the city. There are a fair number of discount shops, a famous one at which a man stands outside and throws candy into a bag and tells you a discount price for the entire lot. There are also sellers who

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Won't Miss #483 - being treated like I'm stupid

I'd like to think the person who made this sign wasn't stupid, merely that he or she was careless.

There have been plenty of experiences in the U.S. since returning in which I have felt like I didn't know what was going on. Things like using a debit card at the supermarket were new experiences to me. The things which Americans have gotten used to over the years which did not happen in Japan

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Random Memories #5

As those who know the story of my romantic history from what I've shared on this blog, from late July 1987 to June 1988, my husband and I were conducting a long distance relationship between Tokyo and Pennsylvania via old-style correspondence. I have two enormous photo albums which I put together during our separation as well as a huge box of written correspondence. At the time that I was

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Will Miss #482 - offers of help

The short nature of a title will make this post easy to misunderstand if you don't read the body. Let me say that I don't mean to imply that Americans don't help each other. In fact, it's my feeling that Americans are more likely to pitch in and help each other in most situations because they are not afraid of taking charge of a crisis or problem. In Japan, the Japanese are loathe to help

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Won't Miss #482 - credit where none is due

People have not yet given Japan credit for the invention of sliced bread, but I'm sure someone will eventually. 

One of the great things about living in Japan was that the world was full of numerous curiosities. I lived in perpetual comparative state. From the way in which the cups are shaped to the manner in which people line up to the way the walls looked, it was all different and therefore

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Will Miss #481 - dislike of medication

Despite the fact that doctors love to over-prescribe medication every time a patient comes in with fatal toe jam or a bleeding hang nail, Japanese people in general are not the same sort of pill poppers as people in the U.S. One of the reasons that alternative medicine, including kampo (Chinese herbal treatments), acupuncture, and whatnot are so popular in Japan is that there is a general

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Won't Miss - #481 useless, pointless lying

Let me say right off the bat that everyone in every culture lies. The type of lying that is done is and the pervasiveness and social acceptance of lying is, however, different. One source of constant frustration for me is the frequency of useless (or marginally useful), pointless, and sometimes totally naked lying that occurs. In my former office job, we were lied to constantly about inane

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Random Memories #4

Click this image to see a much bigger one.


I remember when I found my first "Burger King" fast food joint in Tokyo. While McDonald's were everywhere, the fast food which I was most likely to eat back home was very scarce. When I finally found one, it turned out that memory was better than modern experience. The food really was not what I remembered, or my tastes had changed enough that it

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Will Miss #480 - chicken breast is cheapest

There have been quite a few shocks since coming back to the U.S. and one of them is how the price of turkey and white meat chicken have sky-rocketed. When I was living here before, these types and cuts of meat were cheaper because they were viewed as less flavorful. Personally, I don't like the stronger flavors or the texture of dark meat chicken. I realize that many people prefer them, and

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Won't Miss #480 - Edokko personalities

Before I get into this, let me say that I know and love many wonderful individuals who were born and raised in Tokyo. That being said, when you deal with the residents en masse, and as strangers, a certain character picture develops. Edokko (or people born and raised in Tokyo) tend to be reserved, feel they are more sophisticated and proper in their speech, and less welcoming of strangers and

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Will Miss #479 - hands aren't out everywhere

Things have really changed in the U.S. since I lived here in 1989, and one of them is that some supermarket employees ask you at check out if you want to give money to charity. I don't mind the appearance of a jar into which one can drop money or even a question printed on the payment screen asking if you'd like to donate before entering your payment. What I do mind is the clerk asking me if

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Won't #479 - "kisha club" journalism

During the most critical times of the Fukushima nuclear crisis, one could not trust any of the media outlets for reliable information. On the foreign side, there was alarmist reporting and a zeal for whipping up the greatest drama. On the Japanese side, there is a long history of "journalism" which is about telling the population what the bureaucracy and government wants them to hear rather

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Random Memories #4

The ribbon that I had to pin on my shirt to keep me categorized with my tour group.

Package tours are a big part of any tourist industry, but they are a rather different animal in Japan, at least in my experience. The whole purpose seems not to be to experience the sites or fully digest the atmosphere. It's an exercise in efficiency. How many places can be seen in the short amount of time

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Will Miss #478 - the lighting

One of my former Japanese coworkers was forever running around turning on extra lights in rooms that I happened to be in at work. I always told him that there was enough light for me to see, but he insisted that it was too dark. I don't know if there is any sort of difference between brown eyes and blue ones in terms of the need for light, but my blue-eyed boss also had a similar issue.

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Won't Miss #478 - kameboko

The kamaboko is on the left.

The most exciting time in Japan is at the beginning when all is new and wondrous. It's also the most dangerous from various points of view because you can't read or understand much of what is around you. You wander into a store and see all sorts of curiosities and wonder what is actually food and what might be a cleaning product or marital aid in disguise.

There

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Will Miss #477 - hagoita

In an age in which people seem to actively prefer items which are created with the precision capability of a machine, handicrafts may seem rather anachronistic. Also, sites like Regretsy show us that not all fruits of human hands are things of beauty. One of the many lovely crafts in Japan are hagoita. Originally, they were used to play a game similar to badminton (hanetsuki), but these days

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Won't Miss #477 - the pissing contests

One of the reasons that I have disallowed commenting on this blog to date (except for the new Wednesday feature, random memories) is that there is a strong tendency for foreign people to compete with other foreign people when it comes to proving how well they know Japan. This applies across the board to every aspect of the culture and life experiences. It extends to trivial things such as who

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Random Memories #3

Click to see a bigger version.

My very first exposure to teaching in Japan came second-hand through my husband's experiences. At the time that he was dipping into the world of ESL in Japan, he was my boyfriend rather than my legally recognized partner of 23 years. He signed on for a 1-year hitch at a company called AMVIC and it's safe to say that he operated rather cluelessly in the job for

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Will Miss #476 - no bumper stickers

Christians criticizing other Christians from the back of a truck.

The absence of something is never as easy to detect as the presence, though if the existence of something is especially irritating, you learn rapidly to appreciate when it's not there. One thing I've noticed since coming back home is that people seem to love to use their cars as a means of giving their views, boasting, or

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Won't Miss #476 - lack of a doggie bag culture

My husband and I have two anniversaries. One is the day we became a couple and the other is our wedding date. For the former, we went to a Turkish restaurant and it was only afterwards, when my husband asked to have the remainder of his meal wrapped up, that I remembered that you can do that here. In Japan, the custom is rather different because cleaning your plate reflects satisfaction with

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Will Miss #475 - "reverse" dubbing

If you grew up watching Godzilla movies and Ultraman after school, you have had plenty of experience watching dubbed movies where lips and words are completely out of sync. In fact, this is so well-known that you see it parodied in various T.V. shows. The Simpsons did a bit with radioactively-enhanced Pierre and Madame Curie stomping Tokyo which demonstrated this humor. Well, after years of

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Won't Miss #475 - deli options

Plenty to choose from, as long as you like your food breaded and deep fried!


The supermarkets in the U.S. are bigger than those in Japan. This, in and of itself, means that the deli sections are bigger than those in Japan (as are the bakeries). The problem I had with Japanese delis though wasn't necessarily the size, but rather the range of food options. If you were going to buy something

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Random Memories #3

There is a lot of criticism of American cigarette companies in Japan because they market more aggressively and sell their addictive tubes of tobacco more cheaply there than they do back home. That's not precisely true these days because each state has different prices. If you're talking about New York, where they are nearly $12 a pack, then, yeah, they're much cheaper in Japan. If you're

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