Daily observations.

• Rice is either about to be cooked, in the rice cooker, cooling on the rack or stored safely in the fridge waiting to be eaten.
• Earthquakes are more like small talk and less like a natural disaster the longer you live here:
• "Hey, is the bed shaking?"
• "Yeah, I think so." 
• "Must be another earthquake."
• "Cool! Can we finish watching Entourage now?"
• In the summer, it rains more than the sun shines and fog rolls in at lunch time.
• Bowing to others repeatedly is expected, even when the subject of the bow is on the other end of the phone line. 
• Seeing pedestrian casualties on the side of the road is becoming the norm.
• Every room in my house can be equated to the size of some form of American closet (a bedroom the size of an ample walk in closet, a kitchen the size of a standard walk in closet, an entryway that doubles as a closet).
• Living without a dryer, garbage disposal, automatic hot water, dish washer and any counter space is the rule, not the exception.
• Dog walkers, taxi drivers and janitors all wear white cotton gloves to complete their jobs.
• A typhoon is the misbehaving love child of the Wyoming wind and a summer rainstorm. 
• If there is a harder way to do things, that is the way it will be done. Convenience is not a Japanese trait.