Will Miss #122 - strange Pepsi flavors

Pepsi in Japan comes out with seasonal variations which are wild and weird. One of the earliest was cucumber, followed by yogurt in the form of Pepsi White then shiso and azuki. These are rarely actually good, but there is a certain appeal in the adventure and experimentation of these bizarre concoctions.

I'll miss casually sampling these strange Pepsi flavors.

Won't Miss #122 - people who don't look where they're going

This is an issue which I believe is Tokyo only, but I can't be sure. A lot (and I mean a lot) of people in Tokyo seem to go out of their way not to look at the path in front of them. It's the worst in big train stations like those in Shinjuku and Shibuya. The reason they do this is that not looking where you're going means everyone else has to do the work of avoiding you. The stress of having to negotiate around throngs of people in crowded spaces is immense and having to dodge and weave frays the nerves. These spacey wanderers simply leave the "driving" to everyone else.

I won't miss these people who selfishly wander around in a dream world and make everyone else avoid them.

Will Miss #121 - construction apologies/restitution

On multiple occasions, I've been given gifts for construction or maintenance work done in or near my apartment. When the landlord replaced my kitchen flooring, an action that I requested and directly benefited me, he gave us a bottle of wine to apologize for the inconvenience. When painters painted around our building, they came by beforehand to apologize and gave us hand towels as gifts. I've heard that in other situations, construction companies who make a lot of noise will pay people restitution or for them to stay in hotels on especially noisy work days.

While I'm sure such gifting and apologizing does not always happen, it is welcome that it is a part of the culture and I will miss it.

Won't Miss #121 - worrying about exchange rates

The flip-side to gaining advantage from exchange rates is that you have to always concern yourself with when to send money back. You gamble every time you decide to trek off to the bank and exchange currency that this is as low as it might go for the foreseeable future. Sometimes you find that you hit a sweet spot, and at others you find that if you had just waited a day or so longer, you'd have benefited greatly. What is more, sometimes you have no choice about the timing, and get royally shafted by a dip in the value of the yen.

I won't miss having to fret over when to send money back or regret that I can't wait for the rates to change to wire money home.

Will Miss #120 - benefitting from exchange rates

My husband and I earned less money last year than the year before that, yet we were able to send more money home to place in our long-term savings than in more profitable years. If you work in Japan, but plan to return home, favorable exchange rates can really boost your ability to save whether you make more money or not. At 87 yen to the dollar, a million yen means $11,435 dollars to send back. At 120 yen to the dollar, that's $8,333. Sending money back at the right time can make a substantial difference.

I'll miss making less money, but actually saving more simply because the winds of the exchange rate are blowing favorably.

Won't Miss #120 - paper doors

My doors on a rainy day.

Doors in most places are covered with paper. I'm not even talking about shoji, the well-known doors that look like window frameworks with paper. Regular doors are hollow wood or flimsy aluminum or wood frameworks with paper on them. The paper looks nice when it is very new, but you can't clean it and it gets wrinkled when it is humid. If you move to a different place and the paper on the doors in your old apartment gets damaged or soiled in anyway (which is very easy to do), you will see some of your cleaning deposit money vanish.

I won't miss these cheap doors which are not washable, are flimsy, and appear to be designed to force you to surrender part of your cleaning deposit.

Will Miss #119 - diversity of friends

One of the best things for me about working in Japan is that I have not only met and gotten to know a lot of Japanese people, but also people from all over the world. I've worked with people from nearly every English-speaking country around the globe, and this has taught me that, though we may speak the same language and look similar, our cultures are certainly not the same. I've also gotten to know people from other Asian countries. Being in jobs where foreignness is a part of the work has helped me get to know a far greater diversity of people than I ever would had I remained in the U.S.

I will miss being exposed to such a broad range of interesting people.