Thoughts on Japan

I have been here for over a year now, and I have come to appreciate a lot of the little things about Japan. Sure Tokyo is a noisy place, things are a bit crowded but there are so many things that make life easy:

• Our condo has 24x7 automated lockers. When a delivery comes and we're not home, they put the box in this locker and code in our address. We can open it with this special card when we get home. You can use that locker to send boxed and dry cleaning, too, and they auto-bill our credit card.
• Chiho found a company called Yoshikei ヨシケイ千葉 that does grocery delivery. The offer a menu of four meals per day and you order whichever one you like and they deliver the pre-measured ingredients to your day. There is almost no additional cost and there is no wastage.
• We have a bread store at our train station and at a nearby grocery store that is way better than anything you'd find in Seattle. All of the French people in my office say that Japanese bakeries are as good as Paris bakeries - some are even better.
• Most utility bills can be paid by direct bank deposit but you can pay all the others at any convenience store - with immediate credit for payment and no additional fee.

And that is just a short list. I will add some of the nice things in Japanese houses later.