Won't Miss #15 - oppressive humidity (reflection)

Since coming home, the notion of running back to Tokyo has popped into my head more than a few times. In fact, I'd be surprised if it hasn't entered my mind about a hundred times by now. I'll admit it, I seriously miss the lifestyle. The idea of strolling around Asagaya late at night without a care in the world or hopping a train and going to some obscure train station just to explore remain as inviting to me now as they did then, perhaps even more so. There was a lot to love about the rhythm of life and the variety of experience there. However, if there are several things that put an onion in the ointment (as Grandpa Simpson would say), it's the horrific summer weather. The heat and humidity coupled with energy conservation measures make it nearly unbearable to be there about 4 months of the year and none too great for up to 6 months.

Living in the Bay Area in California, I experience very few days that are excessively hot or humid. Though I'd actually welcome more cold weather (and I never had a problem with Tokyo winters, except feeling that they were too short), I'm pretty blessed to be living where I am weather-wise. The boggy weather in Tokyo is enough to make me think twice about ever living there again, despite my fondness for many other aspects of being there. 

Won't Miss # 104 - spice and salt caking

Because of the long, humid summer and generous amounts of rain in Tokyo, I always have problems with spices and salt caking into lumps. While I keep most of my spices in the refrigerator, I simply do not have the space to keep everything in it and the result is having to whack the counter with the jars to try and break up the inevitable bricks that form. What makes it worse is the fact that spices are pretty expensive in Japan so wasting them can mean losing an investment.

I won't miss my spices and salt forming bricks and blobs and becoming unusable because of the weather.