Will Miss #278 - bowing

This covers three strong aspects of Japanese culture - bowing, cleaning up after others and saying "welcome". 

Do you know what's great about the way Japanese greet one another? You don't have to touch anybody. If that sounds squeamish to a paranoid extent, go back and read my post here. I've seen enough public peeing, nasal excavation, and women walking out of toilets without washing their hands to make me think twice about shaking hands in greeting. If you see enough unhygienic and disgusting behavior, you really don't want to be touching people the first time you meet them.

I'll miss bowing, because I don't know where people have been or how clean their hands are and experience has taught me to err on the side of caution.

Will Miss #117 - embarrassment sparing

Once, during our more than 20 year stay in the same apartment, we completely blanked out on paying our rent and were more than a week late in paying it. Unlike most people these days, we still pay our rent in cash and in person to the landlord. When we failed to pay, instead of the landlord or his wife charging over and saying we were late and needed to pay, she came trotting over and said, "we're never home, so you couldn't pay us." On occasion, I've also heard her ringing various neighbors' doorbells and offering up this same spiel.

This is a Japanese way of sparing you the embarrassment of your mistakes rather than confronting you about screwing up, and I'll very much miss it.