Leaving Japan : 5 Things I Will Miss

As the school / business year ends in Japan, so, too, will my work contract. After long and careful thought, I have decided not to renew, and to move on from Japan to another adventure. Thinking back over my 'returnee' experience, I have to say it's interesting how one's perspective of a place changes over time. When I first arrived in 2003, with no Japanese ability, I was swept away by the experience of living in a non-Western society, with the instantaneous shift from being a cultural majority to a minority presenting a number of settling-in and everyday living issues. However, as I conquered various obstacles, and reveled in being in such an electronically 'advanced' nation. After 3 years, I was tired of the English entertain... teaching gig, but still found it difficult to leave my small community and the life I had discovered.

But after living in the Gulf, where going to another State or even Europe/Asia for business or pleasure are almost routine procedures, I have found myself feeling quite isolated in Japan. Although I live outside one of the largest cities in the world, where one might expect to find extensive internationalization, my experience has been that 'international' travel is quite commonly an organized 5-day package tour junket to Guam, Hawaii, Bali, or China. The 'advanced electronic' society, I have come to realize, is, indeed, advanced-- for internal services. Take mobile telephones, for instance. In Japan, you can choose a mobile phone that has features such as TV reception, high-speed wifi Internet, a multi-megapixel camera, high-def video, and the Hello Kitty wallpaper pack. However, you cannot pick up that same mobile telephone and use it to send a regular SMS text message to a friend living in another country. That is because, get this, mobile phones in Japan have e-mail addresses. Yes, e-mail addresses, such as one you would sign up for at Gmail or Hotmail. Not very realistic.

While living in another country, it is often easy to fall into the trap of focusing on negative or not-so-desirable traits of the local culture/system. Every country, though, has its good and bad points, and ensuring a good experience means remembering the good whilst accepting the bad without trivializing minor points until they become a well-rehearsed mantra.

And so, with approximately 6 weeks left to go until the big metal bird leaves from Narita (or Haneda, or Osaka... I don't know which yet) with me on it, here are 5 things I will miss about living in Japan, and about the Kanto area.

1. The ease of healthy eating

Sure, Japan has its share of Western fast-food chains such as McDonald's, KFC, and Burger King, as well as Japanese-style fast-food chains such as Yoshinoya or Sukiya, but how about cooking at home? When I visit my local supermarket, the 'outer edge' areas-- produce, seafood, fish, dairy, bakery-- are quite large, while the processed and tinned goods are minimal. The produce area is chockers with international vegetable choices such as peppers, lettuce, and fruits, but there are also a lot of local products such as daikon (white radish), renkon (lotus root), gobo (burdock), and bean sprouts. Yes, it's true that Y200 apples and Y800 mangos do exist, as do Y30,000 mushrooms, but a lot of the vegetables are quite cheap and easy to prepare. Indeed, there are a number of staple Japanese dishes which only require vegetables, and *could* have tofu or meat if one chooses to add. My favorite vegetable dish is called chikuzenni. This is a combination of daikon, renkon, carrot, squash (if you want), gobo, konnyaku, and maybe chicken or tofu, simmered in a broth of minimal water, soy sauce, sake, and a tiny bit of sugar.

Indeed, it is incredibly easy and cost-effective to eat healthy here, if one avoids the takeaway shops which are filled with fried foods.

2. Transportation system

Living outside Tokyo, naturally the transportation system is linked rather seamlessly with the city subway system, and can be easily traversed with an electronic fare card. At first, the Tokyo Metro System looks like a nightmare, but becomes much easier as you go.

3. Internal payment/delivery services

Japan has an impressive system for domestic goods delivery. The generic term is takkyubin, which translates as 'home delivery', but is carried out by a couple of major companies-- Kuroneko ("black cat", and the logo is a momma cat carrying a baby cat), and Sagawa. Just about anything can be shipped through takkyubin-- frozen/chilled goods, sports equipment, gifts, documents, luggage-- and rates are dependent on type of good and delivery region. If I am traveling in Japan and will have large luggage such as a dive bag, I can, for instance, go to my local convenience store with the bag (or phone for pickup), fill out a form, and the delivery company will pick up my bag, deliver it to my destination hotel, and then collect the bag for return to my apartment. On request, they will even deliver the bag on a certain day and time (as long as it satisfies the transit time requirement). Because this is a time-conscientious society, if I request, say, Friday evening from 7-9pm, the bag WILL arrive on Friday between 7-9pm baring typhoons or other circumstances beyond anyone's control.
Internal payment. When my electricity/water/gas bills arrive, I simply walk to my nearest convenience store, hand the bill to the cashier, and pay on the spot. I can even use a payment ticket machine to buy sports/event tickets, pay for ANA flights, pay for an Amazon order, or a number of other services. You receive a receipt which goes to the cashier, who takes the cash, scans, stamps, and it's done. There is no worrying whether the payment will be received on time or not-- it WILL.

4. Places to see, things to do: from the snow to the sea

Okay, high cost of traveling in Japan aside, I live in decent proximity to a lot of Honshu. The Japan Alps, which boast some fantastic winter sports opportunities, are only an hour to an hour and a half away by Shinkansen. I was looking forward to experiencing a lot more of the Japan Alps this year, but unfortunately tearing my ACL ended my skiing for the season.
On the other hand, there are a number of great islands south of Tokyo in the Izu-Chain. Last summer, during diving season, I got to go to two : Oshima and Shikinejima. The fall is a good time to travel as the humidity has gone away, but I got sick right during prime time so was unable to dive.

5. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Japan is made up of relatively crowded islands, and there simply isn't room for the landfills found in other countries such as the US. The answer-- recycling. In Japan, it seems that everything possible is recycled, from cans to newspapers to broken electronics. Unlike other countries, though, where environmentally-conscience people have to make a great effort to recycle, the act has become part of everyday life. Bins in public areas are often separated, such as these, and, yes, people DO separate their trash appropriately. Even home rubbish collection is recycle-based, where calendars and charts are circulated by the individual municipalities advertising the days and methods for putting out burnable trash, non-burnable trash (broken umbrellas etc.), cans, PET bottles, 'dangerous' trash (broken glasses, aerosol cans, razor blades, old kitchen knives smaller than 50cm etc.), old clothing, and newspaper/boxes. The disposal trucks pick up these items, and the fees are paid with your regular water/sewage. Large items such as TVs, bicycles, furniture are collected for a fee either by the municipality (you call and reserve, then get a ticket from the convenience store) or by recycling trucks-- private people who collect your items, charge you a nominal fee, then make a bit more when they sell to the recycling plant. Milk/juice cartons and white meat trays can be washed and put in dedicated bins at supermarkets.

I stayed for 2 years in Qatar, where copious amounts of bottled water and soda are consumed but there is no system for recycling. Having lived in Japan for 3 years prior to that, I felt incredibly self-conscientious and wasteful tossing these items dismissively in with the regular trash. With Qatar hosting the 2022 World Cup, and thinking of the amount of trash that will be generated in such a small country, I hope that for the country's sake, and in considering the environment, that there are plans to build a recycling plant and to start taking care of these items.