Will Miss #26 - humorous misspellings (reflection)

One of the experiences that happened casually that added color and humor to my days in Japan was finding places with misspelled words that carried unintended meaning. I have to say that life in America seems a lot "flatter" due to not running across such innocent signs and messages. In Japan, my husband and I would be walking along and he'd says, "look at that" and point out something funny

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Random Memories #38

This is the last in a series of memories related to my experiences with sumo in Japan. The first part is here and the second is here, though you really don't have to read all of them to follow this part.

Humans experience the world through their senses: sight, sounds, smell, touch, taste. Those of us who have grown up with television have been conditioned to focus on what we see and hear

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Won't Miss #519 - fundoshi

These type, super thin shorts have replaced fundoshi for many modern participants in festivals, and the audience members are grateful.

Fundoshi are the thongs that men sometimes wear in rituals or festivals in Japan. They amount to a thong made from twisted cloth. They tend to be worn by men who have been around the track a few times and are closer to retirement age than university

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Will Miss #518 - few or no tacky clothes

Maybe making them "cute" makes them seem less tacky? Or maybe I've lost my mind.

Perhaps this is my imagination, or I don't frequent nice enough stores in the U.S., but I see a lot of profoundly ugly clothes in America. In fact, in some stores, the styles and types of designs that I see are almost painful to look at. Even the strange T-shirts in Japan didn't look as stupid as the T-shirts

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Random Memories #37

The Kokugikan, or "national stadium", located in Ryogoku, Tokyo. 

This is a continuation of last week's post about random memories.

One of the things about being new to a place, any place, including a new city in your home country, is that you don't know the ropes. Before information became something anyone could access via a Google search, it could take years to learn what was possible, if

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Won't Miss #23 - bigoted taxis (reflection)

I'm going to say something which probably sounds a little crazy, but bear with me. When I fill out a survey here in the U.S., and I do so more often than you'd think, I feel like I've somehow failed as a person when I have to check the box which says "white/Caucasian". Since I have returned, I've had "white privilege" tossed in my face so many times that I feel like I've done the part of

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Will Miss #25 - Japanese postal service (reflection)

Notice that there's a postal worker (in the right, wearing a tie, and white shirt) helping people in the line as well as several at the counters. 

I made more than my share of trips to various post offices in my life, more so than many folks due to my carrying on a long distance relationship in pre-internet days from the U.S. and conducted a mail order service for collectible records from

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Random Memories #36

Image from "sumo forum". This was an issue we almost certainly once owned. It shows Kirishima fighting Konishiki.  


I have always felt that people approach cultural experiences backwards. They go to Japan, watch kabuki, attend a tea ceremony, climb Mt. Fuji, or attend a sumo match. These things are done without any real understanding of the events that one is witnessing or taking part in.

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Won't Miss #518 - puny meat portions

A Thai meal "set" in Tokyo. See that little blob of chicken in the middle of my curry? See that enormous mound of rice? Discuss.


My husband and I have been back since the end of March 2012 and, oddly, we bought our first chain-made pizza yesterday. It was from Pizza Hut, and, coincidentally, that was the chain we patronized most in Japan. That means I have copious amounts of experience with

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Will Miss #517 - (fearlessly) taking pictures of food

I didn't realize it until I returned, but people in the U.S. think it's really freakish to take pictures of your food when you're at a restaurant. In Japan, it's practically a sport. Many people use their cell phones or cameras to catalog what they're eating and then post the picture on social media sites. It's not only considered socially acceptable by your cohorts, but also by the restaurant

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Random Thoughts: Little Culture, Big Culture

One of the things about living in Northern California in the Bay Area is that it has a lot of people from various cultures. It is far more ethnically diverse than most parts of the U.S. and has ample numbers of people of Hispanic origin, African America, Middle Eastern, Indian and a wide representation of Asian cultures including Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese. It's rare that a day

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Won't Miss #23 - people shouting outside of shops (reflection)

In Tokyo, it was rare that a day went by when I didn't pass by someone shouting outside of a storefront as a way of beckoning them into the store. In the U.S., I sometimes see people standing on street corners waving signs around, but they never shout out to people. I don't know if they can't do that by law, or if they realize it's pointless to shout at people passing by in cars. All I know is

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