Will Miss #543 - "gift" wrapping

Dave Barry tells a story in his "Dave Barry Does Japan" book about a woman whose son gives his son a small gift-wrapped package that contains candy. Since it is not likely that the boy was carrying around candy in case he ran into a child that he wanted to give a little present to, Barry is initially puzzled as to how the Japanese boy was able to produce such a present so rapidly. He finds out that one can get even a bit of candy bought at a kiosk gift-wrapped in Japan. It's a small and insignificant item that costs about 100 yen (about a dollar), but you can still get a clerk to wrap it up as a gift for you.

There were some little touches to life in Japan that I didn't think I'd miss, but now that I'm back in the U.S., I find that I do. On occasion, I've wanted to pick up a little something and give it to someone as a gift - a nice bar of chocolate, a candle, or a box of cookies. At such times, I am left with only two options. I can take it home and wrap it myself or hand it over in the plastic shopping bag (assuming I got one) that I purchased it in.

In Japan, in nearly any type of store, you can probably get someone to do some sort of gift wrap on an item you buy and I miss the way in which you could have nearly any item, no matter how big or small, gift-wrapped in Japan. 

Won't Miss #41 - willy nilly food serving (reflection)

I can't say that I have eaten in a lot of restaurants in America, but I have eaten out about once every month and a half for the past two years. In all but one case, everyone at the table was served their food at the same time, and, unsurprisingly, that was at a Japanese place. For a culture in which people do everything together, I'm surprised that nobody cares if everyone gets to eat at the same time at the table. Food is served whenever it is convenient for the servers and the kitchen rather than in accord with the customers' needs or desires.

I don't miss sitting down to eat a meal at a restaurant and finding that I was eating 20 minutes before my seatmates because the kitchen and wait staff couldn't be bothered to coordinate. 

Will Miss #528 - the extra mile

I used to receive an actual newspaper when I was living in Tokyo. When it rained, the paper always was delivered in a plastic bag. This is not too far outside of the realm of reasonable service, but I found that there were other areas in which care was taken that I'm not noticing happening here in the U.S. In particular, when a parcel arrived damaged via the Japanese post office, they would put it in a plastic bag as well to make sure that the contents didn't fall out. Here in America, I've already received two empty padded mailers because the contents got lost. I never lost the contents of a package once in Japan, and I received a lot of packages.

In Japan, the focus on service in general often created a habit of going the extra mile without the customer even asking for it. I'm disappointed since returning to the U.S. to find that people only tend to do what they have to unless it is a particularly expensive service dealing with well-heeled customers. I miss the way the Japanese businesses looked out for their customer's interests even when they strictly did not have to do so.

Will Miss #4 - courier services (reflection)

When I returned to America, my husband and I lived for several months on Lopez Island in the San Juan Islands. Because we returned home with nothing more than 4 suitcases to our names, we had to start buying certain things to set up house in the U.S. One of the things I needed, for instance, was a monitor for the Mac Mini I'd carried back with me, so we did have a fair number of packages delivered to us there. I learned pretty quickly that the courier services in Japan were every bit as good as I believed them to be. Not only did they deliver more rapidly, but they also didn't just abandon packages on your doorstep where anyone could wander by and steal them. You had to sign for them in Japan so delivery could be proven. The way people just abandoned parcels in front of unoccupied houses meant that a misdelivered parcel or even a lost one would be hard to prove.

Beyond the superior speed and service of delivery, we found that courier services are much more convenient to arrange for shipping in Japan. I could be wrong about this as I have not lived in a major city in the U.S., but it seems like it's harder to locate a place to send packages from (and it's more expensive!) whereas in Tokyo, nearly every convenience store allowed you to send from their location (and there are convenience stores everywhere).

I definitely miss the courier services I experienced in Tokyo. 

Will Miss #397 - shops that serve tea

My husband and I were walking around Nishi-Ogikubo, one of many little stops that have little of note to offer that we decided to explore, and I decided to peruse a Japanese sweets shop. I found myself waiting to buy a couple of small bean cakes behind a woman who apparently needed a remedial class in how to purchase goods from a shop. In the few minutes that we twiddled our thumbs, one of the two ladies manning the shop scuttled out bearing a tray with two tiny cups of tea and about 1/6 of one of their cakes on little paper doilies. While it isn't as common as it once was, no small number of traditional Japanese shops will greet every customer, regardless of purchase, with cups of tea (and less frequently, accompanying merchandise samples). 

I will miss this way of welcoming customers and how it makes you feel more like a guest than a wallet that the shop wants to extract cash from. 

Will Miss #347 - UFO Catchers

A UFO Catcher prize bag from a Sega game shop. 

I can't believe I'm writing this post. Not a year ago, UFO Catchers (claw crane games) were something I wanted nothing to do with because I thought they were scams and you had to put a ton of money into them with little chance of getting a price. Some time around the end of 2010, my husband gave one a shot to win me a debu neko (fatty cat) and he found out that, while it requires skill, the machines aren't rigged to make it impossible or very costly to win. In fact, he won 3 prizes for 500 yen (6 tries). Buying the same prizes from Rakuten would have cost 1800 yen. Since then, he's been enjoying the games and we've learned a lot both about the games and the way the business operates in Japan. Most of the game shops want you to win. They really want you to win. They'll move things around to help you or put the prize you want in a better position if you try a few times and fail. At one game shop, the owner stood behind us and moved the prize every time my husband missed in an attempt to help us (which actually made it worse, but I appreciated the motivation).

I'll miss the UFO Catchers and how the experience at the game shops is so uniquely Japanese in the way in which staff will help you most of the time.

Will Miss #316 - "capsule" services

A lot of hoopla has been made about capsule hotels in the West so many people are aware of these tomb-like spaces meant to allow people to sleep on the cheap in expensive areas. The truth is that capsule hotels are losing some of their appeal these days because business is changing in ways which aren't allowing for the expenses that brought people (mainly men) to use them. They're still around, of course, but not as popular as they used to be. What many Western folks don't know is that "capsule" service isn't confined to hotels. There are also things like capsule showers, for instance.

I like the inventiveness behind using small spaces in these ways and what it says about the willingness of Japanese folks to accept what is adequate in exchange for a lower price and easy access, and I'll miss it.

Won't Miss #301 - stingy drink service

Have you ever researched the cost of a fountain drink to a business? In some places, it costs mere pennies for enough syrup to make a few hundred glasses of Coke. While I'm sure that this is slightly more expensive in Japan (as many things are), it's not greatly more expensive, yet free refills are almost unheard of in most parts. Costco Japan's food court is a rare exception to the rule. I'm actually not too terribly fussed about the lack of free refills as I'm not really the type of person who needs to down a liter of soda with a meal. However, I am annoyed at a different sort of petty stinginess in Japan and that's the partially filled glass. What is worse, if you ask for a drink without ice,  you will get a proportionally reduced amount of liquid in your glass. If it is 80% full with ice, you'll get it 60% full without ice.

This sort of pettiness flies in the face of the idea of "good customer service" (which goes beyond a bow and polite words, much as many think that's all it is about), and I won't miss it.

Won't Miss #300 - born in a barn

I have no pictures of people being born or barns, so the best I could come up with is this pachinko place with the door hanging open in winter (hence the coats on the players).

There are some curious habits that Japanese service people have which I find troublesome. While it's good that I only need some sort of repair, installation or service in my apartment about once or twice a year, when it does happen, there is a curious sort of apprehension about how to handle the front door. The service people inevitably have to go in and out several times to their vehicle for tools, and they seem reluctant to close the door at all for the duration of the visit. In winter, freezing air streams in and my precious heat streams out. In summer, hot air and hungry mosquitoes float in and expensively generated cold air flows out. As my mother used to say, "close the damn door, were you born in a barn?"

I won't miss this tendency on the part of service people to leave the door open for the entire duration of a service call.

Will Miss #261 - not sweating the small stuff

When I talk about character traits, I'm talking about tendencies, not each individual person. There are cultural concepts that underlie the tendencies of people in their particular culture and each person acts a little differently. Mainly, I'm talking about behavioral probabilities. When it comes to getting upset about small things, the Japanese are much more likely than not to just let it go. If their latte comes back with whole milk when they ordered skim, they'll drink it and forget about it. If they asked for Asahi beer and got Sapporo, they'll drink it and not complain. Many Americans  complain about the least little thing as if there was a major failing on the part of the person providing the product or service. Some people will not only complain, but harangue anyone who serves them the wrong food or drink or carries out less than perfect service.*

I will miss the tendency to just accept small problems or mistakes and forgive and forget on the part of Japanese people.

*If you don't believe me, check out the Consumerist  where some of its archives contain ridiculous complaints (esp. some of the Starbucks and fast food stories) about marginal issues.

Won't Miss #248 - Softbank

My issues with Softbank are two-fold (at the moment). First, if you sign a contract with them and you are not Japanese, you must provide two forms of official identification such as your alien registration card, passport, or government issue health insurance card. If you are Japanese, you only need to provide one piece of official identification or two very flimsy pieces (like student I.D. and credit card). This is discrimination, pure and simple. I don't know why they require foreigners to give two types of official I.D., but the only reason I can think of is that they think we're criminals carrying one well-constructed fake. The second problem I have with Softbank is that they won't answer some questions when you stand right in their shops face-to-face (speaking Japanese). My husband had a question about connecting to their Wi-fi via iPad and they told him they wouldn't answer his question in their cavernous shop which was at that moment utterly devoid of customers.* They said he had to call a number on a brochure. This is pathetic customer service.

I won't miss Softbank's policies or "service".

*Note: He asked in Japanese, so it wasn't a language issue.

Will Miss #244 - automated ordering

A few buttons on a huge automated ordering machine. These are for curry and curry toppings.

Japan has long been famous for its technological innovations. Some day, I'm sure that they will be able to do away with people altogether in the service industry. Given that the birthrate is a bit under 1.4, they'll probably need to do this. For now though, they do the best they can to put technology into the mix and that includes these machines that are used to streamline the ordering process at some restaurants. Instead of troubling yourself with paying a cashier, you buy a ticket from a machine outside first, give the ticket to the person in the shop (not yet a robot, but soon, I'm sure), and they serve you the grub you want without any dirty money exchanging hands.

I'm sure these types of machines are in some other places in the world, but the dazzling array of buttons on the Japanese ones and the fact that they are common occurrences always impresses me, and I'll miss seeing them.

Will Miss #215 - discretion

There are vending machines everywhere in Japan, but I've noticed that certain types of machines (e.g., condom machines, marital aids dispensers) are discretely placed while others are out in the open (e.g., rice, soda). They're either behind barriers or in places where there isn't much foot traffic. I can't say for sure, but I think the positioning as well as the fact that these types of items are sold in machines where you don't have to hand over your purchase to a human and reveal your intent is a way of offering privacy to customers. Similarly, and somewhat in opposition to the openness about discussing menstruation that I encounter, shops always put feminine hygiene products in a paper bag so that they can't be viewed through transparent or translucent plastic shopping bags. Clinics for potentially embarrassing treatment like proctologists also have discrete entrances and exits to help people hide the fact that they are having certain types of procedures done.

There is a lot of subtle, quiet discretion exercised in the interests of customers, and I'm going to miss that.

Won't Miss #198 - stock blockers

Aisles in shops in Tokyo are narrow, as I've mentioned before. One of the things that seems to happen often when I'm shopping is that an employee (or several employees) will largely or completely block the aisle while you're trying to shop. This happens nearly every day. I can understand that they have a job to do, but more often than not, they won't move when you need to get by or they leave boxes or carts full of goods standing in the aisle for long periods of time taking up whatever space they aren't personally occupying. Incidentally, I'm not implying that employees in America are generally better at getting out of the way (as I don't remember after so many years in Japan if they move when blocking or not), but rather that it isn't as much of an issue because the aisles are much, much wider.

Despite its generally good service, employees don't seem to have the common sense to move when they are blocking customers and I won't miss this.

Won't Miss #170 - being refused service

There are several bicycle repair shops in my immediate area, and every time I walk past one of them, I feel just a little irritated. The reason for this is that my husband and I were refused service at this shop. While the "no gaijins allowed" situation isn't as bad as it used to be, it still happens. The main difference between now and 10-20 years ago is that the printed signs in windows telling foreigners they aren't welcome are less common, but that doesn't stop people from simply telling you to go away because they don't want you as a customer. This has happened to me several times, and it has also happened to my friends. I rarely patronize services outside of my small sphere of known places anymore because I'd rather just deal with the foreigner friendly people I know than the potentially foreigner hostile ones I don't.

I won't miss being refused service because I'm a foreigner.

Will Miss #158 - easy acess to service centers

My husband and I bought a Nikon camera from Amazon in the U.S. (because it's cheaper than Japan) and had it shipped to his parents in California. My husband picked it up when he visited them. Shortly after getting back to Japan, the camera broke and we were able to take it directly to a Nikon service center about 10 minutes from us by subway. And we got to repeat that about a week later when it broke again. :-p One of the great things about living in Japan is that the service centers are often easy to access, particularly in major cities. You don't have to ship your broken electronics items off by post (at your expense) and get them back months later. You can drop them off, talk to someone who sees you as a customer rather than a name on a box with a broken item, and get your repaired item back in a week or so.

I'll miss having this fast access to the manufacturers and service centers for electronic items.

Will Miss #113 - dry cleaning storage

Dry cleaners in Tokyo perform an extra service at a relatively low fee. Because many people live in such small spaces, dry cleaners will take your seasonal clothing, clean it, and keep it in storage until the proper season rolls around to use such clothing again. This saves people from things like having to keep bulky coats or quilts crammed in their valuable closet space through the summer.

I'll miss this tidy, low cost, and convenient (and reliable) storage service.

Won't Miss #89 - change and receipt offering method

This is a topic which you will almost certainly hear a foreign person complain about after they've spent a short time in Japan. Men in particular seem to be put out by it, but it's an issue for everyone. When you purchase something in Japan, most of the time you are given your receipt and then your change is dumped on top of the receipt. Since you already have your wallet in your other hand, this method makes it very hard to handle your money and sometimes results in dropping it. For contrast, I'll tell you that, in the U.S., the receipt is usually put in the bag with whatever you buy so that you don't have to handle both it and your change.

I won't miss this awkward method of change handling.

Won't Miss #81 - cluelessness about reducing coin return

Before I ever set foot in Japan, I used to hear about how the Japanese were completely walloping Americans on math test scores. We were made to feel like our kids were hard-pressed to add 2 and 2 and come up with 4 while Japanese kids could do Calculus in seconds with the power of their mighty brains. After coming to Japan, let's say that I've been rather dissuaded from the notion that their math skills are incredibly superior. Part of this has been fueled by the inability for cashiers to grasp an extremely simple math concept. That is the idea of giving a certain amount of money to get back the fewest coins. For instance, if my purchase rings up to 702 yen, I will give 1,202 yen so that I can get back just one 500-yen coin. On multiple occasions, I've had the cashier dumbly try to return the extra money (in this case, the 202 yen). It's as if the notion of doing things this way simply cannot be computed.

I won't miss having to argue with cashiers about this simple notion in order to avoid getting back a pocketful of coins.

Will Miss #41 - no tipping

At the end of a meal in Japan, you don't have to leave anything on the table except your empty dishes. The Japanese don't practice the custom of tipping except in specific instances, and never in restaurants that I know of. While I don't have a problem with the practice of tipping in theory, in practice, it often feels like you're bribing your server to do a good job.

I will miss not having to worry about tipping too much or too little.