Will Miss #73 - being seen as "special" for no good reason

It is my opinion that many foreigners (of non-Asian descent) fall in love with and ultimately become addicted to life in Japan because they can be spectacularly ordinary, but are viewed as extraordinary merely by existing in this particular geographic location. People are more interested in you. You're often treated deferentially or invited to dinner, drinks, or parties even if you have no or a very marginal relationship with the people inviting you.

Right now, I'm rather weary of the sense of being special for superficial reasons, but I'm betting I'll miss it after I go.

Won't Miss #73 - the gaijin salary myth

Most Japanese people believe that foreigners are lavishly paid. I can't speak to how the myth that we're rolling in yen got started, but I can explain to some extent what it is based on. First of all, foreigners are paid on a monthly basis as are Japanese people. The difference is that many foreigners do not receive twice yearly seasonal bonuses like Japanese people do. In essence, the Japanese get a lower monthly wage, then receive bonuses in the spring and winter of between 1-3 months wages (2 months of wages as a bonus given in each period is common in most companies). That means that, in many cases, a foreigner gets 12 months of wages and a Japanese person gets 16 months of wages, but the Japanese person only compares his monthly salary to the monthly salary of the foreigner. They don't factor bonuses into the equation or look at the annual totals.*

They also do not factor in matching funds from the company for national health insurance premiums or retirement funds which many Japanese workers receive, but most foreigners do not. The truth is that most foreign people are not paid much more than Japanese employees with a similar educational background and in similar working circumstances.

I won't miss the attitude that I'm overpaid and under-worked based on a lot of ignorant assumptions and selective considerations.

*A low monthly wage for a Japanese employee is about 180,000 yen and an average for many English teachers is 250,000 yen. Factoring in bonuses (but ignoring health insurance, pension benefits, or housing supplements), the Japanese employee makes 2,880,000 yen a year and the foreigner would make 3,000,000 yen a year.

Will Miss #72 - kinako

Kinako is toasted soybean powder. It tastes a bit nutty and has a distinctive flavor. Though I rarely use kinako powder for anything other than mochi, I am fortunate to have access to a wide variety of foods which use it as a flavoring. Chances are that I will be able to buy kinako powder, but not the foods that are flavored with it.

I'll miss kinako snacks after I leave Japan.

Won't Miss #72 - tatami

There is no doubt in my mind that the use of tatami used to serve Japanese people well. In humid subtropical climates, I'm told that it helps with moisture and possibly even the heat. Unfortunately, it doesn't serve nearly so well in modern life. For one thing, the time when you can get by with a fan, a slice of salted watermelon, and wearing a yukata on the porch to cope with summer weather passed when concrete jungles made heat dispersal and cool breezes a part of the past. Tatami just can't do much under those circumstances, and it is a pain to take care of. In particular, it becomes infested with dust mites, needs to be bug-bombed once a year, and shows wear fairly rapidly. Most people with new homes forgo tatami rooms altogether these days.

I won't miss having to deal with tatami mats.

Will Miss #71 - dressed up statues

When you first see a statue at a little shrine or temple dressed in modern clothes, it looks like someone has been playing a sacrilegious joke. The truth is that they are adorning the statue in red in accord with the meaning of the color in Shinto and Buddhist culture. In Japan, red is seen as driving off demons or disease. Red bibs, hats, etc. on statues of deities has spiritual significance, despite the fact that it looks rather whimsical and frivolous.

I'll miss seeing deities in bibs and caps.