Will Miss #54 - harsh no smoking rules (reflection)

As I mentioned in the original post, Japan used to be a smoker's paradise, but they cracked down pretty hard and now you aren't even allowed to smoke in the streets. I figured that, while there are fewer smokers in the U.S., there are no restrictions on smoking outside so it would be worse here.

Since I'm living in California now, and smoking is not allowed in restaurants where I'm at, I

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Random Memories #75 - the last weeks in Japan - part 7

My previous posts about goodbyes with students may lead my readers to believe that every student loved me to pieces and sobbed herself into a state of apoplexy at my impending departure. In fact, the reason for my focusing on those people in my initial posts about goodbyes was more about what left the biggest impression on me than an attempt to self-aggrandize or paint myself as someone who

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Won't Miss #542 - simplistic and ineffective therapy

Recently, I watched a video lecture about a mental health issue in which an international audience was present. After the presentation, members of the audience were allowed to ask questions or make comments. When it was the turn for a Japanese audience member to speak, his comment about the fact that optimists suffered less degradation in their bodies than pessimists was, 'so you're saying

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Will Miss #541 - genkatsu

Some people like an enormous hunk of meat that they can sink their teeth into. I'm not one of them. The truth is that my bite is uneven and my mouth is also small. I have difficulty tearing things off and chewing well. If my parents hadn't been so poor, I guess I would have had some orthodontic work done and I'd be able to bite off a hunk of animal flesh with the best of them. At any rate,

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Random Thoughts: When culture is (and isn't) an excuse

I had an exchange recently on Facebook after posting a status message about one of our neighbors. These particular neighbors are an Indian couple with a small son. I'm not a person prone to liking kids, but he is incredibly adorable and has done some thoroughly charming things which even someone like me - who was dramatically under served when maternal instincts were being doled out - finds

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Won't Miss #54 - washing my trash (reflection)

Times have changed since I lived in the U.S. and I'm also living in a different area. I grew up in a rural area and the way we handled our garbage tended to be to either burn it in a trash pile some distance from our house or to haul it to the local dump. I never thought about who owned/managed the town dump, but I'm guessing our taxes rented the space for everyone to leave their unwanted

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Will Miss #53 - getting around by bike (reflection)

America is well-known as a country in which car use is the norm. A lot of people criticize this as wasteful, indulgent, and selfish. However, it's important to know how geography and history dictate how people get from place to place. In New York City, for example, many people don't have or use cars because there is adequate public transportation and high population density. The rest of

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Random Memories #74 - the last weeks in Japan - part 6

The red bag has my name embroidered on the other side. It's from a well-known maker, or so I was told. K. also gave me a picture frame and rusks. It was quite a generous pile of gifts considering she hadn't seen me for a very long time.

Compared to the rest of the animal kingdom, human babies are born essentially premature and quite helpless. A calf will be up and walking soon after it is

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Won't Miss #541 - gaijin baiting

A long time ago, when print newspapers were still relevant, I subscribed to a paper called "The Daily Yomiuri." This was the English equivalent of the far more popular "Yomiuri Shimbun". I chose this paper not because it was the best, but because it was the cheapest and news in English was hard to come by in the pre-internet days.

One of the things that started happening in this magazine

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Will Miss #540 - toilet seat covers

When I was growing up, my grandmother's house seemed much better appointed than my family's. Our bathroom was old an crummy with some mismatched shag carpet fragment sitting outside of the tub. My mother was a lazy and poor housekeeper so that thing rarely saw the inside of a washing machine. My grandmother, on the other hand, had a matched deep pink set of items to adorn her bathroom. There

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Random Memories #73 - the last weeks in Japan - part 5

S's goodbye gift to me – a beautiful,
colorful shawl and her lovely note which said, “It's very sad that
you leave Japan. But is already decided with your husband. I
understand because a Master wonderful to you is in a side. On
Thursday, I remember, and miss you every week. Thank you for the
great time. Please, don't worry, and don't hesitate. Everything OK!!
Because it's you. I'm believe

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Won't Miss #52 - bicycle parking problems (reflection)

Bikes being taken away for illegal parking. To retrieve them, you had to wait several weeks and then pay $25-$30 to get your bike back.

For many years during my time in Japan, I suffered from severe back pain. I'm not talking about the type of thing where you exert yourself and your back hurts later. I'm talking about the thing where you wake up every morning, walk for a minute and agony

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Will Miss #51 - shoe removal culture (reflection)

One of my friends recently introduced me to the term "Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon" (aka the "frequency illusion"). This is when something is brought to your attention and then, coincidentally, something else of a similar nature occurs. For example, I was walking to a store recently and noticed that several cars parked along the street had solar-powered bobbing plastic flowers in pots. Later

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