Won't Miss #466 - limited range of jobs

No, I didn't want to be a mini castella vendor, but I probably couldn't have been had I wanted to.

Many people believe that the country is your oyster in terms of work if you learn to speak, read, and write Japanese and are a foreigner. Many people are wrong. Under certain circumstances and if you are completely fluent, you may be able to do a particular job or two that a Japanese person would do. However, it is overwhelmingly the case that foreigners are hired because they are foreigners. They are not hired to do work that a Japanese person could do because, frankly, the Japanese would rather work with known quantities rather than a cultural wild card. There is also the fact that, unless you are a permanent resident, you can't legally be hired for a job a Japanese person is capable of doing. You have to possess a skill they do not (though this law is often ignored if the foreigner will work for a lower wage than a Japanese person).

For all of the reasons above, the range of jobs that a foreign person can reasonably do in Japan is quite limited. The same may apply to every country in the world, but I was a foreigner in Japan and this is part of that experience that I will not miss.

Won't Miss #159 - mail order limitations

One of the most frustrating things about living in Japan (or abroad in general) is that you can't order many items from the U.S. and have them shipped abroad. This is often so for computer and electronic items as well as software, but also clothing, packaged food items, and kitchenware. The electronics and sundry household items are limited because allowing goods sold more cheaply in the U.S. to be sent to Japan would undermine sales in domestic venues. The software, however, makes no sense. I want to buy it in English rather than Japanese. The chances that a Japanese person would choose English software that is cheaper over Japanese version which are more expensive are quite low, yet software cannot be shipped to Japan.

I won't miss the limitations on mail ordering certain types of items from Japan.