Will Miss #512 - easy and safe picture-taking

One of the things I loved to do in Japan and would love to continue to do in the U.S. is take random pictures that include people or are of people dressing strangely or doing odd things. In Japan, being a foreigner pretty much gave you a free pass when it came to pointing a camera at someone (or in their general direction). In the U.S., I'm afraid of being confronted angrily by people who

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Random Memory #28

My first experience with Japanese gift-giving was a very confusing one in 1988 when I visited my future husband. At that time, I didn't know about the way in which gifts are used to build, cement, or verify relationships. In fact, I can't say now that I understand all of the nuances involved in the custom, and I'm not sure I ever will.



When I went to Tokyo in 1988 to spend a month-long

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Won't Miss #17 - uncovered, open-mouth coughing (reflection)

If your germ-bra slips down, it's not going to protect anyone from disease.


One of my former high school classmates recently messaged me on Facebook to say that he was going to be meeting the head of a major Japanese company that had acquired his somewhat less major American company. He wanted any advice I could give him about dealing with this meeting. During our exchanges, he mentioned

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Will Miss #15 - weird stuff in people's windows (reflection)

I think they'd even let me display one of these in my apartment window in Japan. Here, it'd send the estate agent into a state of total apoplexy.


I can't speak for everywhere in Japan or America and what sort of situations renters experience. I can say that I knew far more people who rented their places than owned them in Tokyo and that I've talked to people who rent places in the U.S. I

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Random Thoughts: The New Japan Tourism Ad

Upon first glance at this picture, what is it that you told yourself the objects in the foreground were? Did you think "canes" and imagine they were for disabled people to assist in walking? Or, did you think "walking sticks" to help people climb mountains? If you pay attention (or can read the Japanese), you can see which one is correct, but it's easy not to know which is the case at first

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Won't Miss #512 - dutiful citizen myth

Is that a begging bowl or are you just happy to see me?


In the imaginations of most foreigners in Japan, Japanese people are paragons of civic virtue and foreigners are vile tax dodgers who whine and complain about paying their city taxes, health insurance, and contributing to the pension system. The truth is that most Japanese people do pay their legally-mandated expenses, but only because

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Will Miss #511 - mottainai (regarding food)

Image from the mottainai info site. 


One of my students told me that she went to a curry restaurant and was served an enormous portion. She told me that she tried very hard to eat it all, but eventually, she had to "give up". This type of story, including the conclusion that one should try to eat everything one is served, was very common among my acquaintances and friends in Japan. Some

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Random Memory #27

When my husband headed off to fulfill his one-year-teaching-contract, and we embarked on a long-distance relationship separated by thousands of miles, neither of us knew what he would be seeing aside from perhaps some cool music collectibles. He didn't know about all of the weirdness in terms of the language because the internet hadn't yet been invented by Al Gore. Sites like Engrish.com

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Won't Miss #15 - oppressive humidity (reflection)

Since coming home, the notion of running back to Tokyo has popped into my head more than a few times. In fact, I'd be surprised if it hasn't entered my mind about a hundred times by now. I'll admit it, I seriously miss the lifestyle. The idea of strolling around Asagaya late at night without a care in the world or hopping a train and going to some obscure train station just to explore remain

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Will Miss #14 - (literal) global perspective shift (reflection)

I read recently on a content aggregation site that the globe icon graphics on Facebook are different if you live in another part of the world. That is, the globe is turned around such that the map does not show the Americas, but focuses on Asia. Frankly, I think this is something that should be done even in the West. Rather than constantly show us the earth with America centered on the map,

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Random Memories #26

Sometimes I wonder what sort of cultural touchstones people shared before mass media allowed us to share common fads and trends. Did nostalgia before television, mass publishing, and radio come merely as a family thing or was there something other common experience which drew large and disparate numbers of people under the same emotional umbrella? I think we often take it for granted that

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Won't Miss #511 - denial of cross-cultural relationship issues

All relationships have problems, and each type has specific problems based on the people involved and the circumstances. Cross-cultural relationships have specific ones based on a variety of issues including language differences and differences in expectations. Seriously, they do. There are even a few books written about them to help people anticipate and cope with them. I'm not making this

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