Things That I Love About Living Here

Top 20, in no particular order:

1. Rocking Dunks that are $80 USD, but 16,000 JPY to everyone else.
2. Having a convenience store across the street.
3. 丸一唐揚げ chicken. Pretty much the best fried chicken that I’ve eaten. Ever.
4. The really nice people.
5. 100 yen stores, because sometimes you really need both a spatula and some magnets ASAP.
6. Actually being able to make meaningful purchases with coins.
7. People at work cutting you slack because you’re a foreigner. Regardless of your job, you’re bound to make mistakes at one point or another, so it’s always nice when people interpret your stupidity or carelessness as a “cultural misunderstanding.”
8. The snacks.
9. The shoe game. Nothing beats being in the states, but I guess that you can find decent kicks anywhere if you look hard enough.
10. Afternoon drives along the 58.
11. Never having to worry about finding a public restroom or a vending machine.
12. Okinawa soba.
13. Being able to pick up new CDs and manga on the day that they drop. No place quite like Japan to satiate a case of shameless fanaticism.
14. UNIQLO.
15. Having an air conditioner in my room. I literally run that thing all day on the weekends.
16. Japanese television. Even the nature programs over here kick ass.
17. The stray animals everywhere. I’ve seen turtles strolling along the road, cats with bow ties outside of my apartment, and dogs running around in the supermarket. It’s like Ace Ventura left his door open.
    
18. Being able to drink in public. I haven’t done it yet, but one day when I’m feeling particularly wistful, I’ll probably walk across the street to the store, grab some awamori, walk over to the beach, and watch the sunset.
19. Getting crazy gas mileage on my go-cart.
20. How safe my town is. I often see kids from the elementary school riding their bikes around in the middle of night. It's kind of surreal.