Apart from all the blasted Sanrio stuff (toilet paper, condoms, vege peelers! ) there was so much kitsch ! The whole deal with school supplies, purikura (photo stickers) and Kinki bank's adoption of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion (right) as their mascots ! The vending machine sitch (anything and everything) and really nice hot chocolate. The TV programs... enuf said :P  Everything is *so* cute !

I love the food... except misoshiru and tofu.  It's so healthy and yummy... especially okonomiyaki (a type of omlette with everything in it...) and the good old teriyaki chicken.  And the chocolate, especially Meiji's ChocoBaby thingies...

I admire the way everyone in Japan is so polite... the whole 'respect your elders' thing... altho I suppose the theory of it is greatly different to practice, Japanese teenagers probably disrespect elders as much as I sometimes do... *blush*   But yeah... you know what I mean. 

Japanese technology.  Apart from Chindoogu (those wacky invention thingies), it's Japanese technology that created Nintendo and Sega and brilliant cameras and CD players. I like how you can get a Discman for around A$100 in places like Akihabara when they're A$200-300 back home .     
  

The legendary Tetsukawa's animation

Yummmmmmy

I am also fascinated by Takarazuka, an all woman  theatre revue company... The whole gender-bending idea... and the "men" look soooo cute ! Hansomu ne! The guys are sensitive and dashing and the gals are hyper-feminine . If you get the chance, watch a documentary about drag kings working in Shinjuku Ni-chome, called 'Shinjuku Boys', it's amazing :)

So I've finished the lesbian epic... thank God.  It's not all that ideologically sound - it ended up as a battle btn what I think is the case and what I can prove to be the case. It's all very well to understand a situation, but unless you have source material to back up your own ideas, it's merely speculation.  If you wanna read it, it's here .