Will Miss #525 - Mt. Takao

I wish I had taken a walking stick or ski pole. Older ladies like these were out-climbing me left and right. 

Mt. Takao is the lesser-loved child of the Japanese mountain family. Every would-be tourist knows Mt. Fuji and many are drawn to it like a magnet. It's a point of pride for visitors and natives alike to say they've scaled "Fuji-san", but Mt. Takao is really where the climbing action

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Random Memories #49

This is part of an ongoing series that I've been doing about my memories of working at the same place for 12 years. This is a continuing series talking about the time I spent working in a Japanese office. The other parts are here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Last week, I wrote about one of the three foreign instructors with whom I worked at my former job at a Japanese company. I should note that,

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Won't Miss #34 - Japanese politicians (reflection)

I used to read the news for Japan several times a week when I lived there. Now, I'm lucky if I remember to have a peak at "Japan Today" a couple of times a month. That means that I'm not privy to what "those darn politicians" are saying these days unless whatever is offered is so egregious that it crosses the ocean and taps on the American media's shoulders. Usually, that means I get a head's

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Shameless Non-Self, well, Minimal Self-Promotion

Loco's book is currently available as an e-Book for the low price of $2.99. I heartily endorse it, as you'll see if you're patient enough to get through most of my inane prattle. 

Quite some time ago, I read a book called “The Origin of
Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind” by Julian
Jaynes. No, don't go look it up. You're not going to want to read it.
It's heady stuff and

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Will Miss #33 - weird KitKat flavors (reflection)

Ramune and lemon vinegar flavors.

Around the time that I left Japan, Nestle Japan seemed to be changing their marketing strategy. The days when they regularly (and somewhat frequently) released bizarre one-off flavors seem to be over. There is still the occasional freaky flavor as well as the regional offerings, but the treadmill of weirdness has stopped.

That doesn't mean that I don't miss

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Random Memories #48

This is a continuing series talking about the time I spent working in a Japanese office. The other parts are here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Before I get to what I expect to be the final part of this series of memories about working for a Japanese company for 12 years, I'd like to turn to talking about the parade of coworkers I had over the years (which may take a few parts because it was a lot).

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About comments lately

I'd like to apologize to my readers for not getting to comments on my blogs as of late. My husband and I were doing apartment hunting and then moving (our 6th move since returning to the U.S. in March 2012) and it has been extremely difficult. I read every comment and appreciate them (on both blogs!), but haven't had time to craft replies. Rest assured that they are at least read!

Also, there

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Won't Miss #525 - aural anarchy in shops

One thing which I hated in stores in Tokyo was the high level of noise. It wasn't just the normal playing of music in shops that you get in the U.S., but a near constant stream of announcements or advertising. When I walked through the local supermarket, Inageya, they'd constantly be playing their jingles over the loudspeaker and they stationed cassette players (yes, cassette players) around

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Will Miss #524 - Ebisu Garden Place

There is a certain ebb and flow to life in Tokyo that I have not found since returning home. It's possible that New York City carries the same vibe, but I somehow doubt it. The way it works is that there is the rush and crush of life centered around the stations. The closer you are to one, the more people there are and there is an enormous concentration of shops. As you move out, you discover

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Random Memories #47

This is a continuing series talking about the time I spent working in a Japanese office. The other parts are here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

The image most foreign folks have of Japanese workers is one of people who are hard-working, respectful, and loyal. It wouldn't be too far fetched to say that many employees start out that way, but you can say that of a lot of new employees. No one is happier and

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Won't Miss #33 - PET bottles, everywhere (reflection)

When I was still living in Tokyo, I never researched the reason why people put PET bottles full of water all over their property. This eyesore was to stop cats from doing things, especially peeing on the property. I was told that they were placed there for that reason by many of my students and acquaintances and never looked any deeper.



However, it has been suggested to me that there are

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Will Miss #32 - such nice, clean people (reflection)

As I mentioned in the "won't miss" portion of this two-part post, Japanese people aren't necessarily as clean as their reputation would lead one to believe. People litter, and there aren't as strict laws in place to punish them for doing so in Japan like there are in the U.S. More than one student would complain to me that people would throw their trash bags out their car windows on the

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Random Memories #46

This is part of an ongoing series in which I talk about my experiences working for a Japanese company for 12 years. The other parts are here: 1, 2, 3, 4

In the previous post, I talked about some of the reasons that I stayed at my former company despite being treated unfairly and being at the mercy of an idiosyncratic and sometimes mercurial president. The biggest reason, however, is that it

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Won't Miss #524 - lots of deadly halitosis

The Japanese labor under the idea that foreigners stink more than they do. Deodorant is sometimes advertised as helping people who have the body odor issues of a non-Japanese and many supremely stinky people live their daily lives offending others because they've bought into the idea that all Japanese people don't have the same glands as foreigners and therefore never need some antiperspirant

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