Expensive food, low salary, starving each month, the fucking musical clock above my head at work, getting into shit because of insane garbage disposal procedures, crazy drivers, being a gaijin, getting into shit because free thought is encouraged, then prohibited, saying onegai shimasu every three seconds, saying otsukare sama desu a hundred times a day, office politics, a condescending bitch of a manager, freezing in my apartment without a heater, a shaky English teaching industry, my teenager classes, the falling JPY, Ben, Kat, Yutaka-san, Kenji, the Japanese alliance and protectionism at work, going head-to-head against the clock with not enough to do, talking photocopiers, small-town isolation, a lack of respect, group mentality, lack of individualism, a bipolar East-West society and vacuuming the classrooms.

CoCo Curry, Kappa Sushi, Saizeriya, Pat, the golden shovel, iedic, mountain air, conbini, easy bill payment, ¥399 ero manga, onigiri, "Atatamemasu-ka?", 100Mbps fibre optic Internet at home, having my own desk with a lockable drawer at work, my incredible ¥9,800 bike, my Friday SK2 class (Gai, Kirari, Wakana, Chihiro, Akane), my Thursday all-girls SK2 class (Kaho, Sayaka, Mizuho, Kaede, Akari), my student prodigy Mao, Mt. Fuji, trains that are always on time, top-notch customer service, hyaku en stores, ¥49 koroke and ¥99 yakitori at Tsuruya, plum soda, drinking beer on the street and on the trains, having my own apartment, Eiden and Hard-Off, castles, temples and shrines, cheap mass-produced consumer goods, porno, Tokyo, hot, ageless women and precocious schoolgirls.