Won't Miss #493 - castella

Castella is a kind of sticky, coarse-textured cake which is somewhat sweet and has no strong flavor. It is often sold in blocks or rectangular wedges and can be found pretty much everywhere in Tokyo including 100-yen shops that carry food, convenience stores, markets and tony department stores. Not only can you get this low quality cake pretty much anywhere, but it is frequently used as a base for a variety of other foods including rusks and filled whoopie-pie-style sandwiches. While no one ever force fed me castella, I was given plenty of it either in the office I worked in as a souvenir or as a gift because the assumption was that I'd love it because most everybody does in Japan (hence the reason it's sold all over the place). While it certainly is no blight on the food landscape, it's really not very good sponge cake. It's fatty, sticky, and somehow too dry all at the same time with insufficiently strong flavoring (like, oh, say, vanilla) to make much of an impact. It's like the mutant offspring of a loaf of Wonder Bread and a yellow sponge cake from a Betty Crocker mix. 

I won't miss being given or gifted castella, and having to pretend that I liked it in order to protect people's feelings. 

Will Miss #198 - Japanese movie posters

One of my husband's and my most prized possessions from our stay in Japan is a Monty Python and the Holy Grail Japanese movie poster. Perhaps we're giant dorks, but the movie posters having Japanese writing on them just makes them cooler to us. Of course, the poster designs are also different from those back home in many cases. We've got a collection of movie posters that we have bought since coming here which are our favorite mementos. You can buy such posters for a modest sum in most theaters when you see a movie, and some rental shops give away DVD promotional posters for free, so they're not hard to get.

I'll miss easy (and cheap) access to these cool posters.

Will Miss #154 - Nejinu Souvenir Shops

There is a chain of souvenir stores called Nejinu (ねじぬ) that is one of the nicest places to get souvenirs which are not cheesy or tacky. Unlike the junk they offer foreigners in places like Omotesando, the items in Nejinu are for Japanese people. They include figures for the Chinese zodiac animals, clay dishes, paper lanterns, furoshiki (clothes used to wrap packages and carry box lunches), fans, gift wrap, paper boxes, and various traditional figures like daruma dolls and maneki neko. Most of the items are tasteful and attractive. When I send items home, I often buy them at Nejinu.

I'll miss being able to peruse and shop at this nice little shop.

Won't Miss #123 - tacky tourist junk

I realize that there is tacky tourist crap everywhere in the world. The main difference to me is that I rarely see it in Japan unless I go to an area especially designed for foreign visitors who are here for a brief vacation. Going to these places feels like entering another Japan, one that is designed for easy digestion by people who expect certain things from it. These tacky tourist items are a grim reminder that there are two Japans - the one for the Japanese, and a cheap, fake, safely-packaged one for tourists.

I won't miss seeing this type of cheesy garbage, and realizing the falseness behind it.

Will Miss #45 - New Year's Trinkets

Every year, we visit the local shrine and pick up some little souvenir or another as a memento of the Chinese year's representative animal. Sometimes it's a little ceramic bell shaped like an animal. Sometimes it's one of the wooden plaques that New Year's wishes are written on. Occasionally, it's one of the good luck charms.

I'm going to miss this rare, small frivolous expenditure on a New Year's trinket.