Pretz

You might think that these would similar to pretzels given the name but you’d be wrong, Mr. Wrongerson. These sticks are lightly toasted at then covered in, well, something. The two common flavors are roast (red box) and, my favorite, salad (green box). You get two packages in each box so there’s no need to eat them all at once, but I usually do.

Crunky

You say it’s just a chocolate bar, you say “Where’s the huge chalice?”, you flaunt your ignorance. Was Shaq just a basketball player? Is baseball just a sport with moronic liars who obviously use performance enhancers? Are penguins just midget spies? Of course all of these are more than they seem and this includes Crunky. It’s not a boring slab of chocolate and it has a different take on crunchiness than the infamous Crunch bar (the crunches are subtle so to not induce an earthquake). I’d almost buy a plane ticket just to come here and eat one but I’m already here.

Kansai Dashi Soy sauce Potato Chips

My favorite potato chips. I don’t think I like them because they’re linked to Kansai, but I could be wrong. I might like them because the flavor isn’t too heavy, but I could be wrong. It could be that someone managed to do what others were too scared to do (i.e. put fish stock flavoring on a potato chip), but who knows. The important part is that you can only really get them in the Kansai area and they’re always delicious. I feel like it’s just a big ploy by Calbee to stop me from moving.

Curry-man

The man up there isn’t referring to people but manju. The other flavors are tasty but I prefer the curry bun over those losers. I think the reason I like this one more is that I’m actually not a tall and white but just a shell for many, many tiny Indians.

Black Pepper Senbei

Senbeis are OK, but this one makes me leak sewage from my eye sockets because of it’s illegal deliciousness.

They’re full of calories and they’re messy, but that just means I have to make sure I don’t leave any crumbs.

You might not like any of these, but you’d have to come over here and try them first. I can tell already that you want to; it’s ok, I’ll loan you my spare bedroom.

The diet in Japan (Japan not being a part of America, like everywhere else that isn’t America), although scary at times, is quite good at what it does. Now, I’m not talking about the older diet that they had before recent times, but the current diet. Yes, there is a rising worry about overweight children because of McDonalds and their brethren, but people here are more fit than what I’m used to. This is what things should be like and you don’t really know there’s an issue unless you live in/move to somewhere sans America.

An anecdote: I’ve lost some weight when I first arrived in Japan and I was expecting that. When multiple variables move from a less healthier diet to a healthier one you reasonably expect some weight loss. However, I haven’t weighed myself for around a year, if not more. Recently I was wondering my weight for no reason than the last time I weighed myself was such a long time ago. My expectation was to be around what I was before, which I only had a faint memory of – this wasn’t close. After getting the scale to work, I found out that I had inadvertently lost a lot of weight (I’m now 71.3kg), even including my winter hibernation (less activity and more eating). Now, my current eating habits are not very good, so if one were to actually try to lose weight in this country (or any number of other countries) it might seem like a crash diet to someone back home. Yes, it’s true that some women here do go overboard and strive to be way too thin like people in many other places do, but this really has nothing to do with the effectiveness of the diet.

The food scene is Japan is nothing short of amazing. I was happy when I had some cuisines from other countries in DC, but the sheer number of great places to choose from is astounding. Immigrants (forced or not) from Korea, China, India, and other places have helped the establishment of restaurants of those countries cuisines. Include the Japanese obsession with food (you can start to understand it if you have watched Iron Chef) and you get a great combination. I’ve gone to a bunch of restaurants in Osaka and many of them were quite amazing. They don’t have everything, Mexican is available but sorely lacking, but what they do have is great.

The police here are nice, if you don’t want to say neutered. Most of the time their job involves something bicycle related, but sometimes they actually do something a little more important. But this really isn’t the reason I like them, it’s because they are nothing at all like America. Now, it’s not like Japan is a bed of fucking rose petals, it’s not; but having been around officers, their actions and attitude are startlingly different than one might see on COPS. Even their definition of crackdown is different. Weed? No swat team, no MP5′s, no silent raid. They knock on your door and ask you to come to the station to talk, that’s all (most of the time). What happens next could be severely bad for your future – signing a confession equals time – but you’re not worried that they’re going to shoot or taze you.

The transportation system in Japan gets props from just about everywhere else. As opposed to a country where it’s possible to do without a car in only a few locations due to suburbs and a lack of any decent mass transit (guess the country?), Japan is heaven. Not only have I spent my time here carless (though I did ride in a car two times) there was never a time where I wished I had a car, it really is that unnecessary. From where I am, I can go pretty much anywhere I want to in this country without needing a car; and this time isn’t wasted waiting endlessly for busses or trains (which are extremely punctual compared to some places).

If you live more in the country it does become an important item to own, but it’s not required until you go very far out. There are many suburbs here that are still quite walkable (and definitely bikeable) given their layout. That the areas that have been built recently are not so suburban as America/Canada/UK is something to be thankful for.

So yes, there are some reasons, but maybe there are some more as well?