Won't Miss #65 - little or no public seating

For a city where people rely mainly on walking to get where they're going, Tokyo has very few public benches or places to sit down for a short while and take a load off. When I first moved here, there was the occasional, rare bench, but all of them were removed at some point. Now, you're lucky to find some architectural element that you can rest on for awhile. In fact, some areas are specifically designed to make sitting down uncomfortable to discourage people from resting on them.

I won't miss the absence of places to rest your tired feet in a city that tends to require a lot of lost shoe leather to get around.

Will Miss #11 - city living fantasy

There's something romantic and exciting about having nearly anything you might want a short distance from your home. The scale and scope of it all can be invigorating when you pause and take it all in. There's also a sense of being connected with humanity in a way that you wouldn't if you weren't surrounded by so many people. It's a bit like the opposite of being "one with nature".

I'll miss the romantic sense of living in a big city.

Won't Miss #11 - city living reality

The reality of living in a metropolis is that it is crowded, over-stimulating, expensive, dirty, soul-draining, and noisy. In Tokyo in particular, it seems as though every block has a new building going up or an old one coming down. Someone is always banging, drilling, or scaring up dust. There's also a lot of pollution.

I won't miss the reality of living in a concrete jungle.

Won't Miss #8 - vending machine blight

While the weird vending machines are a curiosity, the overwhelming majority of vending machines in Tokyo are an endless array of drink machines. Sure, it's kind of neat the first time you see hot soup or coffee sold in them in winter or beverages you rarely see back home sold in them. That lasts a short while and then you just see ugly, lighted refrigerators wasting energy, blocking pedestrian walking space and bike parking space and making the view cluttered and unappealing.

I won't miss seeing so many vending machines uselessly placed everywhere.

Won't Miss #7 - urban ugliness

Most people who see pictures from Japan see only the good stuff, but the truth is that most neighborhoods are really ugly. Tokyo is one of the most poorly designed and aesthetically unappealing cities in the world. It's full of ugly concrete boxes for the most part. Unless you're a tourist or make an effort to hit beautiful spots in your free time, your time in Japan is mainly going to be filled with dingy, ugly streets full of cheaply constructed buildings.

I won't miss the ugly, boxy concrete jungle.