Won't Miss #534 - melon-flavored stuff

Yes, even melon gum.

Recently, my husband and I visited a local confectionary (See's Candy) because he wanted to buy their strawberry truffles. I love strawberries, but I'm generally not a fan of anything that is not an actual live berry. In fact, I found the truffles pretty vile and he loved them.

For me, this is a common pattern. I love the fruit, but hate things flavored with it. The exceptions to this tend to be orange and cherry. Both work better in sweets for me than things like banana and strawberry. One of the things which I experienced in Japan, but is not common here is the bastardization of melon in this fashion. I like melon, but I hated the vile melon concoctions in Japan. From melon-flavored sodas to pastries with disgusting melong filling to melon ice cream, it all just tasted pretty awful to me. 

I won't miss the melon-flavored options that were so frequently available in Japan.

Won't Miss #386 - lack of strong flavors

One of my coworkers was a chef in Australia and he remarked that he should appreciate the fact that Japanese food is quite subtle in taste, but the truth is that he actually finds Japanese food rather bland. I'll admit that my foreign taste buds also favor intense flavors. It's not that I can't appreciate some of the subtler flavors, but my favorite things are definitely stronger (yuzu koshoo, Tyrant Habanero snacks and wasabi, for instance). I'm exactly the demographic that things like "flavor-blasted" salted snacks back home are geared toward. While my Japanese friends and acquaintances praise things like konnyaku, plain rice, and tofu, I find them extremely boring. I can eat those things, but I'd rather have them mixed with something more flavorful. 

I won't miss the relative lack of strong flavors in Japan.