Won't Miss #519 - fundoshi

These type, super thin shorts have replaced fundoshi for many modern participants in festivals, and the audience members are grateful.

Fundoshi are the thongs that men sometimes wear in rituals or festivals in Japan. They amount to a thong made from twisted cloth. They tend to be worn by men who have been around the track a few times and are closer to retirement age than university graduation age. Need I really say more about why this is something I won't particularly miss?

Well, actually, I should say more because, as someone who saw her share of robust, hairy, and even spotty behinds as a sumo fan, you'd think I'd be less squeamish about this. However, sumo is a context in which I'm comfortable seeing men in thongs. Public places and normal people wearing them is not one of those contexts. My first experience with seeing this public exposure was watching men in the summer hauling a mikoshi down the street. It dampened my ardor for further such festivities. Fortunately, future mikoshi hauling was done with less revealing attire, at least as far as I saw.

I won't miss seeing men wearing fundoshi.

Incidentally, what sumo wrestlers wear is called a mawashi and is made of silk. 

Won't Miss #471 - skinny guys, high, cinched waists

I'm not a superficial person for the most part, but some things strike me as aesthetically unpleasing. And I'll admit that some of the things I didn't like about life in Japan were pretty petty and this is absolutely one of them. Of course, many of the things we all dislike are of really no consequence, but we have our feelings about them anyway. One of the things which I found really unappealing in Japan was the tendency of some businessmen, especially very thin ones, to wear their pants very high and very tight. In the summer, this was an especially unappetizing sight as jackets were off and I saw men who were looking like they were attempting to recreate the scene in Gone With the Wind when Scarlett O'Hara tries to have her maid tighten her corset down to her pre-pregnancy 18 inches. I think the thing that was most troubling about this is that it seemed an unattractive and unnecessary fashion statement. A belt doesn't need to be choking ones waist in order to hold up trousers. 

Seeing men who looked like they feared their pants might fall down if they wore them lower and at a normal tightness level was a big turn-off for me and I don't miss it. 

Will Miss #148 - yukata

In the summer, Japanese people sometimes wear a light robe made of cotton. It's often worn to festivals, but people also wear them casually. They're comfortable and quite cheap. You can buy them for nearly every size person from children to somewhat hefty adults. Sumo wrestlers can be seen wearing them around Ryogoku, where the national stadium is located.

I'll miss seeing and having access to these light, attractive, summer robes.

Will Miss #10 - weird English T-shirts

Part of the funniness of seeing a Japanese person wearing a shirt with strange English is the underlying notion that they may not have any idea how funny or weird it is (and definitely don't care). While you see people wearing funny shirts back home, the humor is undercut to some extent by the fact that they intend to communicate their humor to you. The latter carries a hint of irony, pretense, or trying too hard, the former of entertaining obliviousness.

I'll miss seeing people wear English T-shirts with incongruously funny messages on them.

Won't Miss #1- not finding shoes in my size

In America, I wear a size 8 1/2 shoe. This isn't the most petite foot, but it's also nowhere near a gigantic side. In Japan, this translates to my feet being a 1/2 size too big for women's shoes here.

I won't miss not being able to find shoes in my size at shoe shops.