Won't Miss #193 - blaming U.S. fast food

Japanese people have been getting heavier as the decades roll by, and if you ask them why, most of them will blame Western food. In particular, they, and many foreigners who live here, will blame the encroachment of American fast food places like McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and KFC. Many hiss and boo at the United States and blame them for distorting the traditional Japanese diet and making the Japanese fatter. To me, this is like blaming the Belgians (for French fries) for Americans becoming fatter. You can lead a person to a fast food place, but you can't make him eat. The Japanese are responsible for patronizing American fast food, making it wildly popular, and getting fatter as a result, not the Americans who offered this slice of culture for their sampling. To assert otherwise would imply that the Japanese are mindless sheep who lack the will to resist whatever is placed before them. They, like every other citizen of every other free country, make their own choices and that includes whatever greasy globs they send down their gullets.

I won't miss the tendency to blame this problem on America.

Won't Miss #143 - restaurant squatters

This may be an issue in cities around the world, but it's something I never encountered until I came to Tokyo. People will buy one drink at a coffee shop, fast food place, or restaurant and occupy a space for hours (literally). I can't say for certain, but I'm guessing this is one of the reasons that drinks are so expensive in general. They know people are going to do this so they want to make a profit for the loss of space in their establishment. I think people who do this back home might be eventually asked to buy something else or leave if it's a crowded place, but not so in Japan. Those of us who simply want to sit and consume our meals are displaced by those who nurse their coffee for three hours while they peck at their cells phones or read a book. I wouldn't mind if there were copious numbers free seats, but there rarely are.

I won't miss these squatters who make it hard for a paying customer to find a place to eat.