A word about lost comments

Several people have mentioned that comments are missing. I'm not sure what is going on, but Blogger seems to be having a bad time of it lately. Unfortunately, there is nothing that I can do about this as I have no control over what Google does once a comment is submitted. I either get notified of a comment and publish it or I never see it at all. If you are using a particular account and failing, it sometimes helps to use a different account to post a comment from.

I realize that this is frustrating for readers, especially when a contest is going on and your comments serve as your entry, but please know that I'm not failing to publish the comments. I'm just not seeing them at all. If you try to comment and it doesn't show up in 8 hours, please e-mail me the comment and I will post it for you. I'm sorry for the inconvenience. If it were in my power to do something about it, I certainly would!

Changes to My Blogs

I've been blogging regularly and steadily on both of my blogs since each one's inception. Both were created to serve several purposes from the outset. One was to bookmark experiences regarding life in Japan so that I could remember them as well as share my perspective on things both trivial and important with others. Another was to set myself a task such that I would develop my writing skills in different directions by focusing on a particular niche (Japanese snacks) or a particular style (short form for 1000 Things About Japan). Still another was in hopes of generating some income for my writing work. Despite my spotty proof-reading, I do put a lot of time and energy into my blogs.

I have realized two of my three goals. For various reasons, I make nearly nothing from my blogs despite having a pretty decent readership that has continued to grow at a slow pace. This is disappointing, but not the primary reason for the changes that are to come.

For some time, I've been writing a book. It's well over 100 pages now, but I keep having problems finishing it. The primary reason for this is that I tell myself each week that I'll do my eight blog posts (five for Japanese Snack Reviews and three for 1000 Things About Japan) and then I'll work on my book. All of my energy and time is taken by the blogs such that there is not enough left for the book and I have decided that has to change.

I've always been the sort of person who believes in structure and discipline. One of the reasons that my posting is regular is that I think that you have to set a goal and stick with it in order to make sure you achieve it. On 1000 Things About Japan, I met that goal awhile back when I hit 500 "Won't Miss" and 500 "Will Miss" posts, but I kept going and added in other content. On this blog, my goal was the number and type of posts and I've steadily stuck with each of my goals for a long time. It is time for my goals to change to getting the books I want to write finished instead of writing a certain number of blog posts each week for each blog.

In terms of what this means, I'll say first what it does not mean. It does not mean these blogs are ending or dying. I will continue to post, but I will be posting like most other bloggers do from now on. That is, these blogs will be second or third in my writing priorities rather than occupy first place as they have for so long. I will blog essentially when I feel like it rather than according to a self-imposed rigorous schedule.

For my kind and faithful readers, this means you'll have to track changes in some way rather than know when something new will be here. I recommend using an RSS reader (like Feedly) as it will automatically notify you of new content when it arrives, but you could simply pop in occasionally to see if anything has been posted. My best guess is that you'll see at least one post per week, but I can't say now as I haven't yet embarked on this new path.

As a postscript, I have to also say that this sort of change was inevitable since I knew at some point that I'd have to start leaving my connection to Japan behind and focus on making new and different ones. That connection will always be there as I spent so much of my adult life there, but it will fade. I love to write, so I will continue to do so, but it will likely branch into other areas rather than be monopolized by all things Japan. I hope you'll stick with me and read when I have something to say. I appreciate all of the kindness and support I've been shown over the years and look forward to continuing to offer something to those who enjoy my writing, albeit on a less frequent basis.

About comments lately

I'd like to apologize to my readers for not getting to comments on my blogs as of late. My husband and I were doing apartment hunting and then moving (our 6th move since returning to the U.S. in March 2012) and it has been extremely difficult. I read every comment and appreciate them (on both blogs!), but haven't had time to craft replies. Rest assured that they are at least read!

Also, there is a bug with Blogger which will not allow me to automatically turn comments on for each new post. I have to manually set each and every post to allow for comments since I cannot do it universally. Sometimes, I forget to change this setting. If you can't comment on a particular post, it's not because I don't want comments, but because I simply forgot to click that particular option on one post or another. If you really want to comment and can't, let me know that a post is locked out and I'll go back and make the fix.

Thanks for your patience and understanding!

Misc. Blog Stuff and Feedly

I've already posted about this on my other blog, the one about junk food, and I wanted to say a word here. Most bloggers, including me, are getting regular readership from people who subscribe using an RSS reader. Many of my readers are using Google Readers, as I did for quite a few years. The awesomeness of such readers is that they allow you to track when new content is available without daily visits to the site. 

Of course, I'm very happy to have people pop in by visiting everyday. In fact, I'd welcome you with a cup of tea and a green tea chocolate if I could. However, if you're the kind of person who follows a lot of blogs, it quickly becomes cumbersome to track them all and that's where RSS has your back.

For my readers, this equation isn't quite so tricky because I follow a pretty strict posting schedule on both blogs. On this one, I post every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. On the other one, I am currently posting every weekday. However, if you are using RSS, it's just that much easier to track new content rather than remember my particular posting schedule.

So, I am kindly asking readers to consider moving to a new RSS Reader when Google Reader reaches its inevitable demise (assuming you already use Google Reader). I decided to migrate early to allow myself to grow accustomed to a new interface and have chosen Feedly. So far, I've found it to be the least annoying. Woo-freaking-hoo? Actually, it's not a bad reader at all, but I'm well aware of the troublesome nature of mastering a new interface. However, you can use it to directly connect to Reader to import your old feeds and set the look to be roughly similar to the venerable reader. 

Thank you all for reading and I appreciate your continued attention and support. I think Google Reader goes dark on July 1, 2013, and I hope that I don't see a concomitant drop in my readership. 

Happy New Year 2013

If only snakes were really made of gold!

Happy New Year to all of my readers! Thank you for continuing to follow my blog(s), and for taking part in comments now that they have been enabled. It is a common custom at the start of the new year to reflect back upon the old one, and I must say that the past year has been a very rough one for me indeed.

Before I left Japan, I spent a great deal of mental energy attempting to prepare myself for the changes to come. After 23 years there, and only visiting home once during that entire time and that visit coming very early in my stay, I knew that it was going to be a bumpy ride. Boy howdy, I was right.

There is an experience that many Japanese people have after they have lived abroad for an extended time in which they have been fundamentally changed such that they cannot fully integrate with their own culture upon return. These "returnees" sometimes find the restrictions of their culture stifling and hard to bear. Their cohorts find them weird and harder to live with. I always felt that this was something that easily happened to the Japanese because they lived in a straight jacket and once released, they found it hard to climb back into those confines again.

Well, I'm here to say that it doesn't only happen to "them". It absolutely happened to me, too. I have been fundamentally changed from my time in Japan and find adapting to life here very hard. There are numerous things which have been difficult to adjust to and it has been emotionally overwhelming at times. I don't want to make an exhaustive list, but just one of the many things I've found hard to deal with is the arbitrary nature of social life in the U.S.

In particular, the unchecked and intentional aggressiveness of people and the arbitrary nature of social behavior have disturbed me. There are no rules, save personal ones, and when they are unintentionally transgressed, you will be handled in an overtly unkind manner. People will go out of their way to confront you angrily just as easily as they will go out of their way to be kind to you by holding open a door or offering to carry your bag. The chaotic nature of both acts of kindness and hostility is something I have had problems finding equanimity with. This is but a tiny portion of the reverse culture shock I've been attempting to deal with, but it has been a pretty significant one.

I don't know if this was the America I lived in 23 years ago, but I don't recall it having been so. Of course, when you are a part of the river and moving along with the flow, you don't really notice that it is doing anything special. When you are rock standing still and watching it wash all around you at breakneck speed, you see every ripple and current, every twig and branch being torn apart by it's furious movement.

This blog continues to act as a filtering and organizing tool for my transition from Japan to America as well as a way of noting my memories. I can't express enough how valuable writing is as a process and would encourage any reader who finds himself thinking too much to consider using public writing as a way of coming to understand oneself and the world. If you want to make a positive change in the coming year, using a blog as a productive tool for self-knowledge and growth could certainly be a good resolution.

My best wishes for health, peace, and happiness to all in the coming year.

Changes in Posting

When I finished my 1000 things, I wasn't sure how I'd continue this blog in terms of posting frequency so I decided to stick with the status quo. However, after a few weeks, I've decided to decrease posting frequency to three times a week and will be posting content on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

Of course, readers are welcome to come and check any time, but I've chosen those days because they largely alternate with my other blog, Japanese Snack Reviews. That blog has new content on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I could post on weekends, but the truth is most people aren't checking blogs out on the weekend. They use blogs as a way to fritter away the time at work or school. ;-)

The reason I've decided to do this isn't that I lack content, but rather because there are other projects I want to start working on and doing 8 posts a week between two blogs is a bit taxing. I'd like to be able to set aside the mental time, if not the actual time, to work on these other things. I'm sure my readers will understand, and I appreciate your continued interest. I'll still be here, but just a little less often than before. "See you" tomorrow!

Random Thoughts: Where I go from here

As of yesterday, I finished my 1000 things, 500 good points and 500 bad points. There were times when I thought I would not make it, and times when I was certain that I would. In terms of the full content, I'd say that I'm not happy with some, but am mostly happy with the vast majority of my posts. As Dave Barry used to say, and I paraphrase, 'they can't all be gems'. Not every post is an earth-shattering observation or an exploration of a nook and cranny of life in Japan that is of optimal interest, but that's not what this was all about.

What this was all about was remembering my time in Japan and doing so in a way which was more meaningful than an album of pictures from a trip to Mt. Fuji (which I never went to, incidentally) or a vague recollection of a certain experience years after it had occurred. It was about details of my experience, warts and all, as well as processing and reflecting on them in a personally meaningful way. It was about pausing in the sleepwalk I did through that life and taking careful notes of what was around me and how I felt before I left that environment and lost the luxury to do so.

In terms of where I go from here, I have no intentions of stopping this blog, though I clearly cannot continue to churn out new content at the same rate as I have in terms of stacking on more new "things". Obviously, I've been mulling this over for some time as the end drew near and my plan is as follows:

1. I will be adding in new posts as the ideas come to me. The truth is that there are still ideas in the buffer that have not been used. While the last 4 posts were written a very long time ago in anticipation of the end and the way in which I wanted to round out my 1000 posts, there are little things that never got into the mix for various reasons (usually, the fact that I could not locate a photo that had an even limited connection to the topic). Those things will be added on, as will new ones that come to mind through time. 
2. I will be opening up all posts to comments conditional on people making ones in a respectful way. People don't have to be positive toward me, but I have zero tolerance for snotty, nasty, angry people who just want to prove something or treat me like their personal stress relief punching bag. If you've got something to say, say it, but pretend I'm your boss and you have to behave in a civilized manner. Otherwise, my moderator (my husband, who screens all comments before I see them) will kick you to the curb. Don't see making a comment as a way of "getting" to me even if you don't get published. There's a protective layer between me and jerks with emotional issues. I hate that I have to say this, but early commenting experiences on this blog compel me to do so. 
3. I will be re-editing and re-posting past posts. That is, I will be re-reflecting on what I said a long time ago and adding in new ideas, possibly expanding the initial posts and going to a more long-form style with some of my old ideas. I'll also be using new photos in some cases. The purpose of this is three-fold. It will allow me to break out of the box I put myself in initially with short-form posting and it will permit me to reflect on how I felt while I was in Japan compared to how I feel now when I'm in America. Essentially, I'll be able to talk about whether or not I actually do miss those things now or whether my speculation was incorrect. It will also allow commenting on old posts (which I can't open for comments retro-actively on a macro level) so that those who wanted to say something when the topics first came up will now have the chance to do so. Again, see item "2". 
4. I will continue with "Random Memories" posts as long as I have things to share from my memory books from my earliest time in Japan. 

It's possible there will also be other surprises. Now that the "burden" I placed on myself to do an arbitrary number of posts is over, I can go anywhere I choose. It remains to be seen just where that might be, but I sincerely appreciate everyone who came along for the ride and anyone who chooses to keep going along with me. I really do appreciate that people take the time to read what I write, and hope you continue to enjoy whatever comes in the future.

The Situation Now in Tokyo

I'm not inclined to make posts about the earthquake, tsunami, or the nuclear situation because I'm not an authority on such matters, but I have been asked about what is really happening and have found that there is a massive amount of misinformation spreading in the West regarding how bad it is. One bit of grim irony is that those of us who are potentially in more immediate danger as we are within a few hundred miles of the reactors are spending more time reassuring people who are across the ocean than they are supporting us.

First of all, Tokyo is relatively safe at this time in regards to radiation exposure. There is more radiation than normal in the atmosphere, but as things currently stand, you would almost certainly receive more radiation from actually getting on a plane and flying home than you would by remaining in Tokyo. Radiation exposure is something that occurs in our lives all of the time but we never question it because it isn't occurring within the framework of a crisis. I've read that radiation levels at one point today in Tokyo were 100x "normal", but that if you go to a hot spring (onsen) and sit in the bath, you're receiving 200x the normal level of radiation from that experience.

So, looking at the information that is being spread isn't enough. You also have to view it in context. We get radiation by flying on planes, getting medical treatment, or scans at the airport. Normal radiation levels are very low so discussing how much greater the levels are without looking at total radiation exposure numbers is misleading and potentially inflammatory. One of the things which is very useful is not to simply read the news, but to access sources which will provide you with context.

One of my major sources, aside from the Japanese news, is to follow TimeOutTokyo on Twitter. There are also several other people on Twitter who are  not alarmist and are providing good contextual information. They include: gakuranman and martynwilliams. There are others who are tweeting good information, but these three are my major sources. They're all working very hard to be level, legible, and to do proper research such that whatever information comes out can be properly understood.

I strongly encourage people not to trust Western news sources like CNN or the Huffington Post. These sources are alarmist, inflammatory, and focusing intensely on only the worst situations and the worst case scenarios. Obviously, there has been devastation in some areas, largely from tsunami, and there is great danger in the area near the reactors in Fukushima, but those areas have been evacuated. The people who are at great risk right now are the 50 TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) employees who are remaining at the reactors trying to get the situation under control. These are the people who are risking their lives and all of the panic being displayed by people who are too far away to be meaningfully affected strikes me as disrespectful to these men (who I greatly fear may die from doing their job in the service of saving others).

If you are an ocean apart, there is virtually no chance you're going to be adversely affected by the crisis in Japan. Snopes has actually put up an article refuting some of the wild rumors about the radiation traveling over the Pacific. People who are on the West Coast of the U.S. who are buying Potassium Iodide tablets or considering evacuating are showing a level of paranoia and panic which is absurd.

All of this being said, I am not an expert on anything regarding these issues, but I have digested information as it has been offered and have been the beneficiary of good efforts on the part of rational people who labor despite the stress we all feel to keep calm and be mature and logical. I can also tell you that I lived in western Pennsylvania during the Three Mile Island crisis in 1979 there and that the distance I lived from there was slightly closer (about 10 miles/16 km.) than the distance I currently am from the Fukushima reactors. Obviously, the circumstances are not exactly the same, but they have similarities. I have suffered no ill effects from whatever exposure occurred at that time and I've had 32 years for something to develop. I think that, unless something catastrophic occurs, there is little chance that those of us far from the reactors will suffer from the limited exposure we're experiencing.

The truth of the matter is that those outside of the most tsunami devastated areas and who are not close to the reactors are currently not in danger of anything besides our own fear and panic consuming us. Right now, that really is "the enemy" (to reference a cliche). That being said, I'm stressed daily because my life is currently far from normal. Though my blog posts continue to go up as usual, that is only because I post from a buffer of posts written at least a week ago on the snack blog and from a two-month buffer on the 1000 Things blog. This is actually the first post I have composed since the quake. The other posts are just going up on schedule from work I did before the crisis.

Frankly, at the moment, we're all dealing with stressful but non-lethal consequences. My husband hasn't worked since the quake and I've lost a week's worth of freelance work. If we don't work, we don't get paid. There have been aftershocks going on, some quite strong, and there have been  other earthquakes with different epicenters (two in the last 16 hours). Under normal circumstances, these would be troubling, but we're all dealing with a sort of post-traumatic stress because the big earthquake started slow and built up over a long time so even small quakes bring back the fear that another very bad experience may be coming. Beyond that, and I plan to post about this on Friday, people are hoarding and panic-buying so there are constant reminders that we're in a state of fear and crisis when one ventures out to any shop. Public transportation is slowly returning to normal service levels, but still disrupted. Every time there is a strong aftershock or a new quake, I worry that normality is being pushed further away. So, I am stressed, but safe.

In no way am I fishing for sympathy about my circumstances as I think compared to people who have really suffered (and there have been many who lost homes, were injured, lost family, and endured far greater trauma), what I'm dealing with is trivial. I mention these things in order to provide context for the following request: I beg my readers not to send me e-mail or comment on other posts trying to "refute" what I say or point out other news sources that offer alternative views. There is too much information out there and much of it is bad and I do not have the energy to deal with all of it. I'm making this post because I've essentially been asked enough times to say something that I've decided that I will. I don't want to get into pointless debates with people about anything I have asserted here because I'm not in a place emotionally to tolerate it. I have to focus all of my energy on dealing with everything that keeps coming my way and hand-holding family and friends who mean well but are constantly being spooked by misinformation broadcast abroad.

I'm closing comments on this post on the snack blog (which usually has open commenting), but please don't interpret that as a snub of my kind readers who have shown such concern for me. I sincerely appreciate the people who care about my well-being and have expressed such kind sentiments, but right now I have to close the door on possible argumentative and alarmist voices because I have enough to handle.

Update: There are also good posts on the situation on AltJapan. They are under "Should I Stay or Should I Go."

Sorry for a few glitches

Just a quick apology for a few scheduling glitches which saw an old post re-issued into the RSS feed and a future one posted prematurely (and subsequently removed). Sometimes I mess up, and sometimes Blogger messes up. This time, it was me. I apologize for the confusion!

I wish I could say that it won't happen again, but there's every chance that it will given my imperfect ability to get dates straight or prematurely pressing "post" rather than "save".

Quick Mention: This blog was reviewed

Just a quick mention that this blog was reviewed at the Japan Blog Review. It's an interesting site that will introduce those interested in Japan blogs to more of the same so you might want to give it a look.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Posting Frequency Changes

As of the today, this blog will be going from a posting schedule in which at least one post is made everyday to a weekday schedule. New posts will only be made from Monday to Friday. The reasons for this are personal, and not of great interest to my readers but the gist of it is that I've been writing 14 posts (or more) per week on average for several blogs (mainly this one and my Snack Reviews blog) for over a year and I need to devote some of that time to other pursuits. In particular, I need to do more language study and prepare to re-take the GRE (I took it over 20 years ago, and my old scores are no longer valid).

Since readership drops off on weekends anyway, and most people just "catch up" on Mondays, this shouldn't have much of an impact on most readers except they'll have a bit less to read. However, I apologize to anyone who is disappointed about this change. I wish I had more time and energy to keep up the current schedule, but life can get in the way sometimes.

Thanks to everyone who follows this blog. I really appreciate it and it keeps me going!

Japan Times profile of this blog

This comes under the heading of "shameless self-promotion". The Japan Times interviewed me and has published a profile of me and both of my blogs (both this one and my snack reviews blog). If you're interested, you can read it on the Japan Times web site here.

Why there were no comments

In the early days of this blog, I allowed comments, but rapidly problems developed based on what is, perhaps, the somewhat unique nature of this blog. The main problem was that people either failed to grasp or refused to consider the nature of this blog no matter how meticulously I went out of my way to explain it. What was more, when I pointed out the explanation, people got angry at what I'm sure they felt was my tapping some arbitrary sign on the wall to shut them up. I understood their frustration, but I'd like to explain mine here.

The main problem was that the short nature of the posts, which was my absolute intention when creating this blog, created issues. Those issues were as follows:

• The need to infer things that were neither said nor implied was overwhelming. My words were not taken at face value. To give a neutral example, it would be as if I said,  "I like my pants in dark colors," and the comment would be, "you hate light colors!" There is a profound difference between saying I like something and saying that I hate the opposite, and I didn't want to waste my time constantly defending or re-explaining myself against statements I neither made nor implied. I also didn't want to feel pressured to expand the nature of the posts in order to prevent erroneous inferences.
• Some people felt a(n) (exhaustive) social, cultural or political context should always be offered concurrent with an assertion. If I said that I wouldn't miss being refused service in Japan, I was attacked for not saying that other minorities suffer from similar problems in other countries. This isn't a blog about broad issues or filled with extensive commentary. It's a list of my feelings about life in Japan. Commenters could not or chose not to respect this and went on the offensive.
• Comments were made expressly to invalidate my experiences without consideration of the circumstances. This is actually quite common among a lot of foreign bloggers in Japan in particular. This is because there is a weird sort of "turf war" about life here. There is competition for who is offering up "the truth", as if there is only one real experience that can be distilled through dispassionate and scientific observation (which no blogger is capable of). I've been in the Japan blogging world long enough to have no patience for this type of thing anymore. If you can't grasp that your physical countenance affects how you are treated everywhere (including and possibly especially in Japan), and that your experiences may greatly differ from mine as a result of that, then this blog probably isn't your best reading option. I can acknowledge repeatedly that my experiences are mine and I don't expect others to share them because they don't live in my skin in my neighborhood, but people will still feel it's necessary to say, "that isn't what life is like in Japan." It is what it is like for me. This need to invalidate is not commentary of value and just adds to the noise ratio.

Mainly, I took away comments because I've got a goal for myself to write 1000 posts and another blog I write for. I currently do 8 posts a week without fail and I generate all of the content alone and entirely from scratch. I'm not riffing on other people's blog content, news articles, or recycling content. I have neither the time nor inclination to deal with people who are acting on personal agendas or their needs to be mad at someone about something.

In many ways, I regret that I can't allow comments because I think that there definitely is the potential for input of great value from readers. For instance, I would have welcomed people from other cities or rural areas adding in their own subjective experiences which differed from mine. I know from limited experience visiting Osaka that some of the problems I experience in Tokyo (such as people not looking where they are going) did not occur there. Unfortunately, early commenters weren't able to offer their parallel experiences without including the invalidating statement or tone of "you're wrong because my experience is different than yours". The opportunity for this blog to be a repository of many people's varied experiences of life here was lost because of the tone and behavior of early commenters. That would have been a "bonus", but ultimately that wasn't the original intent of this blog and I quickly concluded that commentary adding in different perspectives without an agenda of invalidating my assertions simply wasn't going to happen. 

Perhaps in the future when I've got my 1000 posts done, I will open things up for comments because the self-induced pressure to do a set number of posts will be relieved and I may have the time to deal with all comers regardless of the types of comments they make. I would welcome mature, intelligent, insightful and positively motivated input. I'm just not prepared to be the dog people want to kick at the end of a bad day or to waste my time kicking back.

About Me

Since I've received, on occasion, unsolicited e-mail from people who believe that they know me based on my posts here, I thought it might be useful to provide some actual information about me. By no means will this reveal who I truly am (as that would be impossible from something as limited as a blog, particularly one about something other than myself), but at least it will provide some context for the posts on this blog. 

I was born in 1964 and I have lived steadily in Japan since 1989. I spent the bulk of my 20+ years in Japan working in a Japanese office for a small Japanese company that created and sold correspondence lessons. I consider my experiences in Japan rather unique compared to most foreigners for a variety of reasons. Among them are:

• My work required me to interview thousands of people. I mean that literally. I continue to do this type of work for my former company on a freelance basis so the number of different people I speak with continues to increase. I would say that a conservative estimate of the number of different people I have spoken with in a person-to-person capacity would be 12,000. I think this experience has allowed me to know Japan on a broader level than most foreign people who live here.
• I primarily spend my interactions with Japanese people asking questions about their culture, psychology and their lives. For the most part, I don't spend the time talking about myself or trying to engage in chitchat to form personal bonds with people or to simply get Japanese speaking practice. My goal is to get Japanese people to speak about themselves as much as possible, their thoughts, opinions, and lifestyles.
• I'm married to a fellow American. This means that my perspective isn't the same as those who are married or in relationships with Japanese people. I have no need to temper my views or obfuscate my conclusions in order to culturally assimilate as I don't identify as strongly with being a potential permanent resident of this country. Many people who are married to Japanese folks (by no means all) adjust to the difficulties of being a foreigner in Japan by re-framing their experiences positively or negatively or by elevating or degrading the Japanese perspective. I have no incentive to do this since I don't have to adjust my life in the same manner that those in relationships with Japanese people do. They require a much higher degree of adjustment than I do. I do not speak pejoratively when I say this of foreigners who engage in this type of behavior. It is something all humans do. It is part of Fritz Heider's Balance Theory. The main difference between me and those married to Japanese folks is my need to balance is less strongly motivated and influenced mainly by the need for a sense of internal peace with my life in Japan instead of a desire to assimilate or integrate with a Japanese family structure.
• I'm hyper-aware of being ethnocentric. I question every thought and emotion I have when something happens in Japan which bothers me. I always ask if my reaction to an experience is the result of my ethnocentric tendencies (and we all have them, including the Japanese themselves) or if truly unfair or biased behavior is being directed toward me. If I conclude the latter, I do not adopt an apologist stance. As I am accountable for my behavior, so are Japanese people. My barometer is not how people should behave based on my culture, but rather how they treat each other in their culture. The question is always, "would a Japanese person treat another Japanese person the way I'm being treated," not "would I be treated like this in America." That being said, this is a subjective account and I reserve the right to complain about things based on my personal preferences, but I do recognize and note in the applicable posts when I am having an issue with something because I'm being ethnocentric. 
• I'm female and have no children. Many Japan bloggers are male or mommies. Japan-based mommy bloggers have very different priorities than me (and rightfully so). Male bloggers have very different experiences because being an obviously foreign-looking male in Japan is a far more favorable experience than being an obviously foreign-looking female. Note that being a foreigner of Asian descent is an even more different experience as such foreign folks can live without the same level of overt scrutiny that I experience. If you are easy to distinguish from the natives, then you are treated differently than if you blend in. I am aware that people will disagree with me or dismiss my experiences because they personally haven't had the same ones. That doesn't invalidate my views.
• I'm not a Japanophile, nor have I ever been one. I don't idolize anything in Japan. I think it has both good points and bad points, just like every other developed country in the world. Part of the reason this blog came about is my awareness of that fact. I have no desire to put Japan on a pedestal nor to vilify it, just to talk about my impressions of small aspects in short posts.
• I studied psychology with an emphasis on social psychology. This means that I have a strong awareness of the dangers of generalizing anecdotal experience. I realize that I cannot speak with authority or expertise based solely on my experiences in Japan. This is why I state clearly that this blog is subjective and has a limited scope. I can only speak as an expert on what it is like to be me in Japan. You can draw conclusions about Japan as you like based on what I say and my impressions, but I take ownership of those impressions and my emotions as an individual and do not expect others to necessarily share them even if they have similar experiences. Until you've lived in my skin, you can't possibly have my perceptions or experiences, nor can I have yours. That's the nature and limit of reality for all of us. 

Thanks for reading.

My Raison D'etre

My husband and I have lived in Japan for a little over 20 years and our thoughts sometimes turn to how we'll feel when we eventually leave.

I'm starting this blog to catalog the thoughts I've been having about the possibility of leaving Japan after such a long time. My hope is to find (at least) 500 things I will miss after I leave and 500 things I won't miss (hence the 1000 things). Why 1000? Well, I'm absolutely inspired by the blog 1000 Awesome Things.

If you stumble across this blog, I hope you find the content interesting and potentially educating. Thanks for taking the time to drop by.

Contacting me by e-mail

If you would like to advertise on this site, have a business offer, or would like to interview me or provide a promotional opportunity for this site, you may e-mail me at: orchidsixtyfour@gmail.com

Thank you.

Please note that this address is not for e-mailing comments about the blog.

What This Blog Is and Is Not

This blog isn't an attempt to address social issues or even life in Japan on a macro level. It's a highly personalized take on life in Japan based on my experiences and feelings. I'm not making any assertions that all places in Japan or all people are reflecting things that are mentioned here, nor am I implying that the things I mention here are not present in other parts of the world or cultures. This simply is an account of my feelings about life in Japan from a highly subjective viewpoint.

The format of this blog is intentional. That is, the short descriptions and personalized phrasing ("I will/I will not") are intentional limits that I placed on myself when I decided to do this blog. There are a variety of reasons for this, but the biggest one is that I've done a great amount of longer form writing in the past and this is a different sort of writing exercise for me. Clearly, the format has its limits, but this is meant as a notational format. It is not meant to be deep and broad in scope.

Each post should not be regarded as a whole and complete opinion on a topic. These ideas are facets of a whole, and each individual post is incomplete. So, please do not infer from the lack of a complete picture that there has been a lack of consideration of every angle of an idea. The full picture of a situation may not fully emerge until several posts have appeared, or indeed, until I've reached the end (or beyond) of making 1000 posts. This blog is a list and the nature of it is intentionally brief, not exhaustive. I edit myself for brevity and try to keep to a very specific point. These are not intended to be representations of my entire view and every single thought I may have about a particular issue. If you're looking for that sort of blog, you're in the wrong place.

Also, please note that the pictures on this site are representative, not literal depictions. For example, I may talk about health clubs and how expensive they are in Tokyo and show a picture of Gold's Gym, but that doesn't mean I go there or that that is the health club I'm talking about.

Thank you for reading!