Michelle's Top Ten (sort of)

Just for fun, I thought I'd do a list of things I miss and things I don't miss about Japan. I tried to keep it to ten, but a few of them just slipped in.

Top Things I DON'T Miss About Japan

1. Squat toilets
2. 5-hour long sessions with the snow shovel (Remember this picture of the snow? )
3. Seeing my breath as I dash to the toilet room in our house during the coldest hours of winter.
4. A constant state of slight confusion.
5. The archaic nature of special education.
6. The endless variety of sea creatures that somehow always seemed to land on my dinner/lunch plate.
7. Japanese beer.
8. Gender roles.
9. Isolation from other native English speakers.
10. The Japanese love of flashy, blingy, plastic stuff.
11. The “recycling police” (in the form of a local grandma).

Top Things I TOTALLY Miss About Japan
(note: I didn’t bother to list my friends because that one is so obvious. I miss them most of all)

1. Seeing stars at night.
2. Warm summer afternoons, open windows, and the sounds of children playing (in Japanese) in the street as I sip on a cold bottle of jasmine tea from Seicomart.
3. Komu (A Komu reminder)
4. The distinct changing of the seasons; each season accompanied by its own holidays, festivals, foliage, wildlife, and insects.
5. The “family” feel of the middle school and elementary schools.
6. The ownership students take in their own learning and their school.
7. Japanese playgrounds. (from our trip to Abashiri )
8. The slower pace of life found in a village.
9. Japanese vegetable gardens.
10. The Japanese love of presentation and of beautiful things. (A lovely little treat )
11. Insane recycling