I miss you

Many people like to ask me what I miss the most being abroad.

Well as it turns out I miss a lot of things. I have been abroad for nearly two years now and I can say that living in Japan makes me miss America more. I think this is because E-mart allowed me easy access to many American foods and items when I was in Korea. Therefore a piece of home was always nearby. In Japan American food is much much more expensive. Even the base ingredients. Needless to say, I cook and eat out American style ( or any kind of Western style ...I won't even tell you how expensive it is to cook or go out for Mexican!) way less. Now I love Japanese food you will hear no qualms from me about most any dish, but sometimes there are things from the heartland that are near and dear and just hit the right spot from time and again. 

I think another thing that kind of frustrates me about Japan that I know I have mentioned before, is the prices. Gas is 140 yen per liter ( it just went down. during golden week it was 160 yen). Mangoes are 300-400 yen. Blueberries 600 yen. A sewing machine ...you won't find one for less than 100.00 usd over here. Oh! And bikes! you won't find one for less than 120.00 usd over here. Well not new anyway. If you are accustomed to living a certain lifestyle in America or even Korea, it will cost you much more in Japan. Road trips? Several hundred dollars. Even if you avoid the toll roads. A nice dinner meal twenty bucks for all the cooking ingredients at bargain prices. Even the hotels are more expensive than in America. Here they often have a little thing called love motels which are typically cheaper than a nice hotel though a large bit more shady. And those will often charge by the person (or by the hour if you prefer). Actually hotels charging by the person is a pretty normal thing in Japan. They do not charge by the room. So a 5000 yen hotel very quickly becomes a 10000 yen hotel when traveling with a companion. 

Let me back up. In Korea my experience was extremely different. I took buses every where and they were cheap. 15 dollars for a three hour ride or so. And then I would stay the night in a place called a jimjilbang ( a large bath house with sleeping areas) for about 5 dollars a night. Food in Korea? I never spent more than 10 dollars for the best meals ( I think meals are typically on the cheap side and they make more of their money off the alcohol most people want with the meals). These prices are certainly cheaper than American places where sleeping bath houses are just unheard of, but in comparison to Japan, it seems like robbery. 

If you are living in Japan or have lived (or living!) abroad anywhere for any length of time. Please leave me a comment on what you missed the most about your homeland when you were away.