What do I like about living in Japan? Hmm it's hard to say as there are so many things I like.
I like the way the trains were always on time right to the second. If the sign said the train departs at 10:42 you can be damn sure it will.
Easy, cheap and accessable food like ramen at the corner shop, or "eki"soba at the station. A quick "onigiri" at the local "7-11" or Lawsons convenience stores or Gyudon or ramen late at night. Ramen was especially good at the street stalls.
Being able to buy beer at all hours of the night at convenience stores. (Back in the day it was 24/7/365 beer and whiskey machines.)
If I was alone at home and hungry I could always dial up the local Chinese or Japanese restaurant, Sushi ya san, pizza, or ramenya san, and it would be delivered in a short time, in glass bowls and plates! No tips or anything. Just leave the plates outside when you're done and they'll pick them up. If you were a foreigner and they could understand your Japanese it didn't matter.
Always getting an "irashiaimase" (welcome) when entering, or a "domo" (thank you) when leaving an establishment, whether they really ment it or not. Or the cashier in the supermarket or department store handing you your change on the receipt and bowing to you and thanking you for shopping there. For some reason you felt that they appreciated your business.
The excellent customer service I always received anywhere in Japan. I especially liked when you needed your oil changed that Toyota would send a couple of men in a car to your house, leave you a car and take yours to be serviced. At the end of the day they would retrurn your car with the oil changed, vacumed, and washed all at no extra charge.
I liked the sense of community in that all the neighbors would participate in keeping the neighborhood and streets cleaned and that there would be a few days set aside throughout the year for the general cleaning of the neighborhood. I also enjoyed the greetings of the neighbors at all times of the day, whether they knew me personally or not after living in the neighborhood for a while. Even though I was a foreigner almost no one ignored me.
I like the hustle and bustle of the major cities and the fact that you could buy anything you desired and I also enjoy the crowds of people. I also like the serenity of my local area in the suburbs. Just a 7 minute walk from the train station and you are completely isolated from any noises. Also, you could be 10 minutes from a major train station and feel like you were in the country with little farms just off the major roads. Quite a contrast.
I liked the fact that, with a minimal amount of money and minimal hassle, I was in business for myself teaching English out of my home and an accountant provided me, free of charge for one year, at the expense of the local government.
I like that you can get virtually anywhere in the country by train/mass transit.
I like that you only heat/cool the rooms you are using as it seems such a waste in my country to heat/cool the entire house/apartment when 90% of it is not being used. Very uneconomical and a waste of energy. But when in Rome....
I like the Japanese winters also with warm, toasty rooms and kotatsu's to warm the feet and mikan and ocha and hot baths. And when "Haru ichiban" (first winds of spring) come you know warm weather is just around the corner.
I like the Japanese spring of warm air and cherry blossoms and parties and drinking under the cherry trees.
I like Japanese summers and the heat and humidity and beer gardens and oscillating fans and "air con" and the incense of the "katori senko" (mosquito killers); cold beers, cool edamame and cool showers. (The rainy season I can do without thank you.)
I like Japanese fall with the crisp, dry air and the changing of the trees.
Most of all I like, for the most part, being treated with very little discrimination or animosity from my neighbors or the places I visit, especially when I visit for the first time. For example, I am still greeted warmly in my old neighborhood when I return for visits and, when I recently made a reservation at an onsen, my family name, in katagana, was listed outside the onsen, alongside the other Japanese guests as one of "todays guests", and not once was I made to feel like a foreigner.
I especially liked the fact that when dinner was to be served that night in our room and I was taking my bath and only my wife and mother-in-law were present, that the lady serving our meals said, "we'll wait for the 'master' to return." When my wife told that to me it kind of made me feel like I was not a foreigner.
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