Japan Does It Better | kimberly ah

Feb 07 2014

Japan Does It Better 7: No Shoes

When we first moved into our apartment, we had new hardwood floors installed and I decided we would officially become a “no shoes” household. Naoto and I were both accustomed to taking our shoes off at the door, but in our old apartment, with its worn hardwoods, we didn’t really think about asking our guests to take off theirs. But the hardwoods in our new apartment were the most expensive upgrade to our home and I wanted to take good care of them. Wet shoes, snowy, salty shoes, un-maintained high heels, rocks…they were all the enemy (not to mention dog doo, spit, food, dirt and other unmentionables from the outside world).

But my mom pointed out that as a good hostess, you want people to feel comfortable in your home. For some people, that means keeping their shoes on. I know deep down that my mom is right, and I do want to be a good hostess, but it’s hard–especially with the snowy, slushy weather we’ve been having–to not cry when I think about muddy boots traipsing across my floors and rugs.

This is where Japan Does It Better…

In Japan, there is no question whether or not you should remove your shoes. Everyone removes their shoes. You walk into a tiny vestibule, take off your shoes and step into the rest of the home. Outdoor shoes never step up into the rest of the home. And most people have an array of house shoes that you can wear if you choose.

The aversion to outdoor shoes being worn indoors goes beyond homes in Japan. In some restaurants and shrines, you are asked to remove your shoes. Oftentimes at izakayas there are lockers where you place your outdoor shoes to keep them safe while you eat. (It can be hard to keep track of your locker key when you drink too much!) Some places have communal slippers you wear while inside, other places you just wear your socks. I often wonder how the communal slipper thing would be accepted in the US…I am pretty germ-phobic, but I never thought twice about putting on communal slippers in Japan. (Everything just seems very sanitary there.) And luckily, I’ve always had cute, hole-free socks in my suitcase during my trips to Japan!

What do you think? Shoes, no shoes? Would you think it was weird to take your shoes off in a restaurant?

No shoes indoors…just another way Japan Does It Better!

For more JDIB posts, go here.

Tagged adventures, home, homemaking, I *heart* Japan, Japan

Jan 15 2014

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Japan Does It Better 6: Japanese Airlines

Let’s talk about flying to Japan.

The first time I flew to Japan, in 2008 for work, I flew American Airlines. It was fine. Economy class is uncomfortable on any flight, and it really wears on you after thirteen hours, but really, who can afford first class?

When Naoto and I flew to Japan in 2011, we flew Japan Airlines. Even though we still flew economy, it felt a little bit luxurious because the customer service was so good and because we each had our own little TVs for movie viewing. (I realize that personal screens are available on pretty much any flight theses days, but in 2011 it felt like a rare treat.)

On Japan Air, they serve a special drink, Sky Time. Sky Time is yuzu juice. Yuzu is a Japanese citrus fruit that looks kind of like a tiny grapefruit and it tastes citrus-y…maybe a cross between a lemon and a grapefruit with a little bit of orange? It’s hard to say exactly. But Sky Time is delicious. You can drink it as is or mix it with vodka. Yum. Yuzu juice can often be found at the Japanese grocery store, too, in case you want to try it without suffering through the cost and the backaches of a thirteen hour flight.

At the airport while checking in for our flight home, we were magically whisked out of line and over to a kiosk and upgraded to business class. Our seats were roomy, we were offered slippers and eye masks and treated like royalty. I credit Naoto’s good karma for the luck of the business class draw…(he has amazing parking karma, too!)

In September, we flew All Nippon Air. It was comparable to Japan Air in customer service. We didn’t have any swanky upgrade luck, but they did kindly move me to an aisle seat. And, on the flight home when the flight attendant learned that my screen didn’t work, she apologized no less than four dozen times, offered me every magazine on the plane and offered to move me to a seat with a working screen another dozen times. It felt really weird…especially since we never complained about it and then explained that I could just hijack Naoto’s screen because he would sleep anyway. Yet the apologies continued…awkwardly.

Oh, and speaking of apologies…we got a little bit off-schedule upon departure at O’Hare and though our pilot tried to make up the time in the air, we were still five minutes late upon our arrive in Japan. The pilot apologized profusely…for five minutes…it’s nice to know that some airlines value my time.

I was excited to learn that ANA also has their own signature drink, the Aromatic Kabosu. Kabosu is another citrus (it looks more like a lime but is kind of similar in taste to yuzu) and it is delicious with gin. My cocktail is pictured above with my mid-flight rice cracker snack…the mid-flight snacks are my favorites.

Kind flight attendants, respect of schedules and signature drinks…more reasons Japan Does It Better in flying!

For more JDIB, click here!

Tagged adventures, cocktails, I *heart* Japan, Japan

Jan 06 2014

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holidays, Japan Does It Better, snail mail

Japan Does It Better 5: Nengajō

I love the tradition of sending holiday cards to my friends and family. I also love that throughout December, my mailbox is a flurry of greetings from people I hear from regularly as well as those friends and family who only send greetings once a year.

In Japan, instead of sending Christmas cards and other holiday greetings, people exchange nengajō–New Year’s Day greetings. These greetings come in the form of postcards, either store-bought or handmade. Usually the messages are handwritten and the cards are always hand-addressed with the sender’s best calligraphy.

The best part of nengajō though–and this is where Japan Does It Better–if you send your cards during a window of time (usually mid to late December), the Japan Post Office holds the cards and delivers them ON New Year’s Day!!! Wouldn’t it be fun to open your mailbox on January 1st to find a flood of new year wishes from all of your family and friends?

The best.

According to this tweet (which includes a great picture of the delivery team), the Japan Post estimated 1.82 billion nengajō cards were sent throughout Japan on the first.

The cards pictured above were nengajō that I purchased at Mitsuwa last month. I filled them out on New Year’s Day, so they won’t be arriving anywhere on time, but the spirit is there. The one on the left says “Happy New Year” and the one on the right says “Welcoming Spring”, both typical nengajō greetings.

Nengajō and well-orchestrated New Year’s wishes…another reason Japan Does It Better!

(For more JDIB posts, click here.)

Tagged holidays, mail art, snail mail

Dec 09 2013

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adventures, Japan 2013, Japan Does It Better, My Love Affair with Tokyo

Japan Does It Better 4: Omiyage

In Japan, it is customary to buy gifts for your colleagues, friends and family when you travel. Whether you are going to another city or another country, omiyage is an expected part of travel. Usually, the gift is some sort of specialty from the area you visited (known as meibutsu), either a little souvenir or a snack made in the area. For example, when I used to work for a Japanese company, whenever someone would go to Canada, he or she would come back with little maple syrup candies for the office to share. (Sigh, I miss traveling to Canada…)

Omiyage is a big business in Japan. Everywhere you go, there are beautifully wrapped packages of sweets and snacks. We picked up the snacks shown above purely because they were wrapped so beautifully. (They were delicious, too!) I have to believe that the omiyage expectations keep Japan’s economy going…
As a foreigner, it is especially fun to pick out omiyage. There are so many fun things to buy in Japan that we don’t have in the states. I bought a lot of washi tapes, stationery and handkerchiefs for friends. (And KitKats…which deserve their own JDIB post for sure.) The best part is, most stores will gift wrap just about anything. I bought a couple of these cutie cat handkerchiefs it Mitsukoshi and the sales clerk brought out an array of colored envelopes and gift stickers for me to choose from. She even pointed out that there is a tiny window in the back of the gift envelope so I could see which handkerchief was packaged inside. That way I could make sure I gave the right gift to the right person. Clever! I usually enjoy wrapping gifts myself, but I loved that a store would take the time to care for my tiny, inexpensive gift.

Omiyage and gift-wrapping small treasures…another simple reason Japan Does It Better!

(For more JDIB posts, click here.)

Tagged adventures, I *heart* Japan, Japan

Nov 18 2013

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adventures, Japan 2013, Japan Does It Better, My Love Affair with Tokyo

Japan Does It Better 3: Pocket Tissue Advertising

Okay, it isn’t necessarily that the pocket tissues are better…actually they are pretty scratchy. But if you go to any train station in Tokyo, someone is there ready to hand you a little pack of pocket tissues. Now, they aren’t handing you tissues out of the goodness of their hearts. The tissues are a form of advertising for local businesses. (The tissues above are from a drug store chain and a gym.)

Normally, I’m not a fan of walk-by advertising. Sometimes in Chicago, restaurants hand out menus on the street. Menus are not useful (unless I’m sitting in the restaurant ready to order), but tissues are. We accepted the tissues each time and used them to wipe the sweat off our brows (It was so hot during our stay!) or to blow our noses or to dry our hands (some washrooms didn’t have air dryers or paper towels).

A few years ago, Naoto went to Japan without me and came home with the Hello Kitty tissue holder pictured above. The Japanese tissues fit perfectly inside, so I have a little collection of refills to use this winter. Nothing makes me feel grown up like being able to find a nice clean tissue in my purse when I need one (even if it’s coming out of a Hello Kitty tissue holder!)

Something as simple as useful advertising…Japan Does It Better! (For more JDIB posts, click here!)

Tagged adventures, I *heart* Japan, Japan

Nov 05 2013

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adventures, Japan 2013, Japan Does It Better, My Love Affair with Tokyo

Japan Does It Better 2: Public Toilets

If you know me at all, you know that I haaaaaaaaaate public bathrooms. They are always dirty, the toilet paper is often 1-ply, there is no privacy (Why are the cracks between the stall big enough for people to see in?!), washing your hands becomes futile because you still have to touch the faucet and the door unless there is a fancy automatic shut-off and unless you wait for someone to come along and open the door for you!

Yep, it’s all gross. It’s the stuff nightmares are made of.

So imagine my bathroom-phobic surprise when I walked into my first public Japanese bathroom (in Kyoto back in 2008) and saw this:I almost had a panic attack.

I mean, what do you even do???

Why didn’t someone warn me???

Thankfully, in Tokyo, most of the toilets are “Western style” (the kind that I am used to here in the States). Many even have a bank of fancy and confusing buttons…so many buttons, in fact, that sometimes flushing the toilet can be challenging. (Which button is it?)

The buttons are all part of the washlet–a bidet-like contraption fitted into the toilet seat. Washlets are in most of the public bathrooms and private homes in modern Tokyo. Most of the washlets include a seat warmer and a deodorizer, too. Some, like the one at the top of this post, have a music button you can push and it plays a little tune or water noises to give you a little privacy and drown out any…ahem…bathroom noises. In some public washrooms, the music/water noises start automatically. I’m a big fan of the music…I don’t want to know what’s going on in the stalls around me.

And you know the little paper seat covers that are in some (nicer) American public bathrooms? Many Tokyo bathrooms have these, too. And if they don’t, they have this:

It’s sanitizer for the seat! You just squirt some on a piece of toilet paper, wipe down the seat and it’s clean and ready to use. Genius, no?

Clearly, when it comes to public bathrooms, Japan Does It Better!

(In case you missed the beginning of this series, click here.)

Tagged adventures, I *heart* Japan, Japan

Oct 10 2013

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adventures, Japan 2013, Japan Does It Better, My Love Affair with Tokyo

Japan Does It Better 1: Narita Express

Japan Month is rolling to the end of the tracks. I’ve been home for a month…you’d never be able to tell based on the fact that my stationery purchases are still lingering in the dining room and my sleep schedule is as dreadful as ever and my cravings for Misdo are coming back with a strong, sad vengeance…but it’s been a month of Japan posts and it’s time to talk about other things (like October and fall and Honor Flight and cocktails). I still have many things that I would love to share about Japan–both observations and products that are unique to the country. So, I’ve decided to introduce another occasional series: Japan Does It Better. JDIB (I’m not completely sold on the acronym) will highlight the products, conveniences and quirky cultural details that I love about Japan. This way, I can sprinkle some Japan love throughout my back-to-normal posts.

So, let’s get started with the Narita Express!

The Narita Express (NEX) is the train that takes you from the Narita Airport (the airport that you fly into when you say you’re flying into Tokyo) into urban area of Tokyo. It takes about ninety minutes and the train makes very few stops along the way. We took it from Narita Airport to Shibuya and then transferred to a local train (similar to the L in Chicago) to get to our hotel. NEX is a lovely little commute. The seats are assigned and there is plenty of space up above and at the end of the car for an international traveler’s luggage. There is a (clean) bathroom on board and the ride is smooth and quiet. In Japan, people do not talk on their cell phones on the trains. If they do, it’s always a quick call and even the sharpest of ears couldn’t hear the conversation because everything is courteously quiet. (When I come home and hop on the L, I am reminded how much I miss Japan and how Japan totally does commuting better!) To me, the peace and quiet of the train is enough for the Narita Express to qualify for JDIB, but, there’s more…

There’s a snack cart!

Once the train gets moving, a kind NEX worker comes around pushing a cart of sandwiches, sweets, chips, coffee, teas, cocktails, beer…tiny treats to make your commute to the airport a pleasant one. And the prices? Not bad at all! Under $3 for a beer or some chocolate covered almonds. You can even purchase some dried scallops or a NEX-branded notebook or pen.

(We did not.)We chose potato sticks, a waffle and an autumn-themed beer. Naoto drank the beer. I ate most of the potato sticks and the tiny waffle. (Surprise, surprise.) The potato sticks are similar to American “shoe-string” potato snacks, but crunchier and the waffle is…a waffle with a little bit of sweetness baked into it (because you don’t have syrup to pour over it). Waffles seem very popular in Japan. We saw several little bakeries serving them in food courts and in shops around Tokyo. The snacks were just enough to tide us over before our pre-flight lunch at the airport.