FoodMeetsLifestyle.com

• The gorgeous fish section at Tokyu department store
• First-rate sushi and sashimi always and everywhere (I guess we’ll become very picky about sushi back home…)
• The simple and tasty Izakaya food, as well as the more refined and extremely varied Kaiseki cuisine (both of which will be rather difficult to get in Europe)
• Wagashi, or Japanese-style sweets. Although I am usually not all that much of a sweets person, I have fallen in love with everything made out of mochi (the yummy soft rice dough), and I also adore the red bean paste it is often filled with. But all above I am completely hooked on my beloved yatsuhashi! Unfortunately these little treats perish within few days, so there’s no way I can take home any reasonable supply … :-(
• The general obsession with food. When talking about a travel destination, the conversation will inevitably focus on local specialties or famous restaurants (as you may guess, I feel totally in my element here…). And people are just so not fussy, always eager to try new things – it is such a joy to cook for them!
• Inviting people over to a party, however casual, and being able to count on them really making every effort to come
• The oh-so-pleasant moist towels you get in each and every restaurant
• The ever-so-friendly, super quick and incredibly well-spirited staff at the supermarket (I feel almost reluctant to ask them for something, as they will immediately literally run and get it…)
• Having the supermarket shopping delivered to our doorstep, or the travel luggage sent to our holiday destination – just all those handy delivery services right at your fingertips
• The extremely effective as well as entertaining lessons with my absolutely fantastic Japanese teacher
• Being able to wear fancy high heels at any occasion without ever being overdressed (but never having to, because I’m usually way taller most people anyway ;-) )
• Shoe shopping at Matsuya department store - it feels like browsing through shoe wonderland… (whereas trying to find clothes for my height can be rather frustrating here, Japanese shoes appear to fit me really well, even better than many a model in Europe)
• Lazy Sunday shopping strolls and people watching along the Ginza pedestrian area (shopping on Sundays - my God, will I miss that in Gemany!)
• The vast, flawlessly running and impeccably clean public transport system, that gets you anywhere across the huge city of Tokyo in no time (in over a year of taking the metro almost every day, I’ve only twice experienced any mentionable delay). I can’t stop being amazed at how they manage to make this work so smoothly in a city this big and crowded…
• Finding a cab everywhere at any time (never seen so many taxis in one place!), and never ever having to worry that the cab driver might fool you (however, it is highly advisable to know how to find your destination in the complicated road system of Tokyo, as there's a good chance the driver will not know…)
• Never having to worry about safety (not that Munich is an unsafe city by any means, but Tokyo just tops it! Just figure a headline on the evening news about 7(!) handbags having been pickpocketed during the Tokyo cherry blossom festival, attended by millions…). I’ll really have to be more careful watching my belongings after I leave Japan - I’ve become very complacent…
• Nobody ever even thinking of staring, let alone whistling at you (rather than that, road workers will step aside and bow to you as you walk by)
• The Champagne Jingle. Well, I guess that’s not actually its official name… Every day at 5 pm a little tune sounds in public places throughout the city. Initially Simon and I associated the music with an ice cream van passing by, until we noticed it actually came out of a nearby loudspeaker. As we later learned, it was originally put in place to call children home from playing, and/or workers from the fields in the evening. We, however, have attached our own meaning to it - "time for an aperitif" on lazy weekend afternoons…
• Our divine shower (shower and bath tub have their own room within the bathroom, separated by a proper door – so neither can the rest of the bathroom get wet, nor is the joy of my lovely hot shower ever tarnished by an evil cold draft from outside. I could stay in there forever…)
• Heated toilet seats
• The view on Tokyo Tower from our bedroom window, and generally being surrounded by skyscrapers (to some people this may seem weird, but being in the middle of a big city gives me a wonderful feeling of comfort and safety…)
• …

...and what I am happy to do without...

• The voices out of the loudspeaker at any escalator, constantly ordering you to "watch your step and stand inside the yellow line, in order not harm yourself, or others"
• The millions of "workers" standing in place just to guide you around an infallibly secured building site, or any other non-existent "danger" (although it is truly admirable with what dedication these people go about their obviously redundant tasks, I can’t help the sad thought of how this country could possibly flourish, were all these highly motivated people only engaged in something that actually creates value…)
• The ever so cumbersome personal banking system (highlights including ATMs that have opening hours, and online transfers for which you first need to register the recipient via a hard-copy letter…)
• Waiters, cab drivers, or bank clerks for that matter, who are struggling to autonomously take any pragmatic decision to respond to a request that is slightly outside their predefined process (you can tell the anxiety from their faces as they brood over their dilemma of really wanting to please the customer, but being too scared to deviate from their standards…)
• The completely messed-up time zone, i.e. the sun rising and setting far too early (so no nice long summer evenings…)
• The horrible cicadas in summer, which, due to the extremely early dawn, wake you up with their ear-piercing noise as early as 4:30am (thank god they’re only there during the hottest summer months, but even that is nerve-rendering enough)
• Smoking still being allowed in many restaurants (kind of improving, though) – the weirdest thing being that if there are tables outside (where I really wouldn’t mind), they are usually non-smoking (the concern being rather one of keeping the streets tidy than of health issues)
• Shopping items being wrapped in ridiculous layers of packaging (some cookies or crackers really remind me of Russian dolls…), which is not only obviously a tremendous waste, but also really annoying to unpack…