One of my Twitter followers asked me a question the other day. “What items do you take back to Japan with you when you visit the States?” Well, I flit between the U.S. and Japan more than most gaijin, so I’ve got a pretty good system in place. First, there are certain staples that I like having at home, including “Butter Lite” syrup for pancakes, since Japanese syrup tastes like overly sweet honey, and I always have to bring powdered packets of taco sauce mix, gravy and so on, since it’s handy to have around. A bottle of vitamins costs about the same as it does in the U.S. but for 1/5 the contents, hence I always stock up on any health products I think I might need. There’s nothing worse than being sick and not having access to the cold remedies you’re most familiar with, so I always restock my medicine cabinet with everything from NyQuil to Alka-Seltzer Plus to Advil. The night before my flight back to Japan I go to a store and get Mexican tortillas and a block of really good cheese, since cheese in Japan is limited to “slice cheese” (which is yellow and tasteless) and “melty cheese” (which is white, and also tasteless).
Whenever I’m in the U.S. I stock up on things I can’t buy in Japan.
