Some things I can’t live without after living in Japan

45 comments

1. I could not cope without a bidet honestly. I will also miss onsen and sento after I leave😭

2. 5. Vending Machines

   6. Health care that wont bankrupt you

   7. Margilization of organized religion

   8. Non-tribal politics

3. Properly working toilets.

4. Towelket

5. A general sense that my yen goes way farther than my dollar ever did back home

6. 2nd hand figurine shops!

7. To that list I would add the following:

   5. Takyubin & Japan Post (reliable and flexible deliveries even on Sunday!)

   6. Utilities companies phone operators and technicians (Tokyo Gas, Tepco, etc) Very easy to change contracts, reconnect services, repair stuff. Always efficient.

   7. Efficient bureaucratic services (print official documents from the conbini, get stuff fast and reliably, etc).

   8. Plain common sense (still prevalent), no nonsense discussions about simple principles such as “do not bother others” “do not lie” “own your mistakes and apologize” “live and let live”, etc.

8. – Excellent public health services, dental is a scam overseas when you compare the prices here.
   – Normal serving sizes for most meals, made me realize how much people overeat overseas too.

9. For me it’s the affordable health care AND veterinary care. Pet MRI in Japan was ¥130,000 without pet insurance; in the US it’s triple that! Of course my husband’s MRI with insurance was only ¥8,000.

   And also the washlets. My parents liked them so much after they visited me back in 2004 they had them installed in their bathrooms in the states. I’ve been very lucky to never have had to go without, lol.

10. The freedom to go for a walk whenever I want and be able to enjoy it because I’m not scared

11. That all sounds like tourist shit. I can’t live without nationalized healthcare that includes dental and essentially free childbirth.

12. Quietness & clean air, even in somewhere like Tokyo

    Everytime I need to visit other Asian countries, I’d already dreaded from loud aunties & uncles plus the extra spitting noise

13. Japanese-style bath system where you only press a button to draw water to your preferred temperature.

14. I have lived in Japan 30 years. Went back to US for a few weeks this month.

    There are no little things that I could not be easily accustomed to live without. Bidet? Its available. Conbini? People adapt easily. When I moved from city to rural Japan, and konbini became far and now close again, I adapted in a few days.

    Onsen. Nice, but again, having moved from rural to city, it is like the konbini. In rural onsen all over the place and used it almost daily, in city, hardly ever. Adapting is easy.

    Shinkansen? I have a car in both places and it is way more convenient and cheap than shinkansen. In the US there is less need to travel long distances anyway.

    The things I would not like to live without are the affordable rent here in Japan (as well as other prices) and health insurance. I can not speak from experience as to US, but once again, when I was there I only hear horror stories and I feel so lucky that I do not have to worry about that shit in Japan.

15. “Doctor shopping” as I call it.
    In my home country all medical services are free, but you are limited to a list of family doctors in your municipality, and it costs money and a new ID card every time you want to change it, and your medical records are shared, so if one doctor has denied you treatment the others will too.

    In Japan I can always go directly to a hospital and get second opinions if I want. I still think paying for hospital visits is crazy, but luckily it’s not too expensive.

16. Ice coffee.

    On my recent trip outside Japan, I was able to find ice coffee in a few places, but it’s not the same as here.

17. not being stabbed up by a gang of yutes for my phone while walking down a dark alleyway at night.

18. Totally agree on the first three. I love the shinkansen, but I rarely use it so could live without it.

    But I’ll add vending machines everywhere and mugicha.

19. * Affordable healthcare that won’t bankrupt me simply for being born with genetic bullshit that requires 18 pills a day and yearly screenings just to stay alive
    * Affordable fresh food that keeps me healthy
    * Employee protections so I can’t be unreasonably fired or overtly harassed (particularly medical discrimination)
    * Walkable cities
    * Affordable and reliable public transportation
    * Robust electrical grid; I’ve never experienced a power outage here despite multiple events and weather conditions where a prolonged outage would be viewed as normal where I’m from.
    * Bidets
    * Hand-held shower heads so that washing your nethers is actually possible, unlike the fixed shower heads that are commonplace in the US.

20. For sure.
    1. Bidet
    2. Conbinis, just as you say.
    3. Echoing others’ comments of the vending machines.
    4. Clean, safe(-feeling) streets
    5. Extensive, clean, reliable public transit
    6. Being able to leave your stuff at a table, e.g. at a cafe, or at a library, while you go up to the counter to order, or while you go to the restroom, without having to pack up all your things every time out of fear that things will get stolen.
    7. Being able to reliably find public restrooms and certain other kinds of facilities. Shopping centers, train stations, certain other categories of locations that just very reliably have restrooms, without having to play games with “are you going to buy something?” or “our restrooms are only for customers,” or the like.

    But for me, some of the things that also most come to mind are some of the smaller things, esp. in the home:
    1. I love my built-in combination A/C / heater. One in each room. Set to an exact temperature. Compared to the junky, clunky, window unit A/C units so many of my friends and family still have in the US.

    2. Setting my shower to a set temperature and just turning it on. It’s a small thing, but it’s truly one of the things I cannot stand when traveling, or when back home in the States, having to play games with just how far to turn the knob(s) to get just the right mix of hot and cold, every single time you go into the shower.

    3. A nice deep Japanese bath tub. Bonus points for auto-filling and temperature maintenance.

    4. Clean public restrooms. And not junky – stall doors that close completely, to the top and bottom, offering a real amount of privacy. And small details even within the restrooms, like having a hook and/or a ledge to put your stuff, rather than putting it on the dirty bathroom floor.

21. Coming from Europe not much as we have same high living standard and food is more on my taste as well, but definitely no shoes in home habit will be number one for me.
    Funny about number one, as it was the first thing I have unplugged in my
    Home.

22. Lol combini is great and all but stuff like paying for concert tickets and bills are done online in normal countries.. so many times that I’ve won the concert ticket lottery but forgot to pay, how does this system make sense

23. Besides the food and onsen, what I love coming home to are showers with the temperature on point, almost immediately. Japanese showers/baths with recycled water are amazing!!

24. Safety and ramen

25. The toilet . Throwing the paper next to the garbage can. Ewwwww irrational 

26. The relative quiet and people mostly keeping to themselves.

27. Trains

28. 1. Bidet. No explanation needed.

    2. High water pressure. My country’s water pressure sucks compared to Japan. Here, it’s default you have a high water pressure. In our country, you need to buy a machine to make the pressure higher or live in a high end condomium.

    3. Ease of travel. In my country, the “best” mode of transportation are cars. I drive but I don’t miss it in Japan since you can go almost anywhere without one and owning one here will actually cost more.

    4. Japanese gas stoves. It’s handy and cool.

    4. Our refrigirator. It’s a Japan limited so if ever I move back to my country, I’ll be stuck with “normie” fridges.

    6. Vending Machines. Not much explanation needed.

29. Tough Gumi alone is enough to keep anyone in Japan.

30. *Universal healthcare

    *No religious zealots shoving their beliefs down my throat!

    *Great, cheap food everywhere you go

    *And, yes, Toto washlets!!! Went on vacation recently to a country that doesn’t have them. It was hell!!!

31. no tip culture

32. Japanese Bakeries and Coffee Shops

33. No tips

34. 振り込み banking, use it all the time.

    No tipping

    Bento culture

    Easy access to train stations or even more important to me is the build up of shops around the stations that are easy access.

35. The excellent customer service. Hailing from the Philippines, I can just tell you how poor our customer service is 🥲 I have lots of annoying and/or traumatizing experiences dealing with sales clerks

36. I spent 400 bucks to get an outlet placed next to my toilet just so I could drip another 600 on a nice Bidet. Japan ruined me 😂

37. Rice and air quality

38. Things that run on time.

39. It isn’t a must have, but I have gotten used to the customer service attitude. When I go back home “Whaddya want?” in a bored tone is kind of jarring!

40. I’m surprised no one’s mentioned lack of tipping culture in restaurants. After getting back from a trip to Europe, where I had to deal with this tipping madness, it’s so nice to be in a place where I can look at the menu, pick something to eat, eat it, and then pay the exact amount advertised without some server with a nasty attitude staring at you while you enter a tip selection on the screen of the mobile payment device.

41. 1. Healthcare that won’t bankrupt me
    2. Healthy, fresh, convenient conbini food that won’t bankrupt me  
    3. Eating & drinking out that won’t bankrupt me
    4.  Rent that won’t bankrupt me
    5. Method of travel (i.e trains) that won’t bankrupt me

    So, basically,
    6. Not being bankrupt 

42. Being able to take a shower without 1) standing in a slick porcelain tub, 2) having a shower curtain wrapping around me, 3) being able to wash my kid easily. Why don’t other countries have large bathrooms? (I also like that toilets are USUALLY in a different place)

43. In my area of Tokyo, everything I need is within a 1km radius🤙🏽

44. I honestly don’t get the hype for conbini. Like, yeah it has food that’s probably better than the convenience stores where we all come from, but it’s better than cooking, except for I guess onigiri?

    That being said I can’t live with my seasonal 7-11 ice bars lol. The lychee one this year is SO good, I hope it never goes away.

45. Tea in Bottles without Sugar or Sweetener

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