In the winter of 1999 I arrived in Japan for a short vacation, dragging 2 large suitcases full of stuff! Why did I bring so much for a short vacation? Well, one suitcase was for me, and the other was for my friend who was working in Japan as an eikaiwa teacher. His suitcase contained, among many other things, a video cassette full of The Simpsons and Seinfeld episodes; a big bag of green apples; a case of stick antiperspirant; and a huge jar of peanut butter. Carrying that heavy suitcase, I realized how much he missed Canada, and how little he felt at home in Kansai.

Living in Japan can feel like living on another planet if you don't treat yourself to some of the comforts of home. Many of those comforts are available, but you have to know where to find them. I've lived here just over three years, and now I'm finally starting to feel at home. But if you make more of an effort than I did, you can have accessto those comforts of home quite easily.

Every foreign national who lives in Japan misses some kind of food from home. For me it was peanut butter and good American style hamburgers. For others it's tortillas, meat pies, dips for potato chips, candy bars that are popular back home, or vegemite/marmite. But you can find a lot of these things here at import shops around town. There's a chain called YAMAYA which has branches on the third floor the Namba OCAT building, another one in Nagahoribashi (near Shinsaibashi), and another in Mino City. In Namba City shopping center there's a place called DELI (2nd floor) which has a lot of imported snack foods, and there's a nice bagel shop next door.

There is another small shop called SENNARIYA in Ebisubashi-suji, the shopping arcade between Nankai Namba station and Sennichimae Street. And for you people up North, there is a place in Hankyu Umeda station called SEIJO ISHII (on the 2nd floor up above the Bigman tv screens). All of these places sell not only food but also imported wines and liqueur. And in addition to getting stuff from your home country, you can also find new and interesting foods from other countries as well! My first experience with Tim Tams was at Seijo Ishii!

Import shops are not the only places to find your beloved foods of choice. Various "gaijin bars" often have authentic (or semi-authentic) food from your motherland. Tin's Hall near Tennoji station has great American style hamburgers, fish and chips, and pizzas that actually have some toppings. Green Leaf, also in Tennoji, has decent meat pies. Most gaijin bars have food like this, though I must admit the authenticity varies from place to place. And for anybody from Hawaii (or Kanto), there is now a branch of KUA'AINA BURGER in Namba Parks shopping center! You can get 1/3 pound or 1/2 pound burgers that throttle Mos Burger any day.

Two other businesses worth checking out are COSTCO warehouse in Amagasaki, and the FBC (Foreign Buyer's Club) in Kobe. Both places have a good selection of imported foods and other amenities like stick deodorant and antiperspirant (I haven't been able to find this anywhere else in Kansai, only the useless Japanese stuff). FBC has a store on Rokko Island, but it is also a mail order service that ships all over Japan. FBC costs 1000 yen for a 1 year membership, and COSTCO costs 4200 yen per year.

Feeling at home is not just about the food, it's also about feeling connected to the outside world. I've never watched a lot of tv, but I highly recommend splurging on cable tv. Sitting at home flipping through Japanese variety shows you can't understand makes for a very lonely night. Being able to just turn on the tv and see some familar faces from home giving you the news in your native language makes you forget you're thousands of miles away from home. I pay about 3500 yen per month through Bay Communications, and my package includes CNN, BBC, FOX, Discovery, a couple of movie channels with mostly American movies, etc. Most gaijin agree that Japanese tv is pretty useless, so stop torturing yourself with it!

One more thing that helped me feel much more at home here was finally getting a credit card, so that I no longer had to carry lots of cash or search for ATM machines at awkward times, and could once again order things online. It took me 2.5 years to get a credit card here, because I kept making the same mistake: I applied to BANKS for their credit cards. I was always either rejected or my application IGNORED entirely. Finally I got one through AEON credit service (not the eikaiwa!) at a Supermarket called Max Value. My application was accepted almost right away with no trouble. Other people have easily gotten credit cards at places like Toys R Us, Sports Authority, Costco, big department stores, basically anywhere EXCEPT BANKS. Ignore the ladies who solicit you at the bank, because they're most likely wasting your time.

At the beginning of your stay in Japan you may feel swamped with things to do and not know where to start. But taking care of some of these comforts and conveniences is well worth the time and will make you help you feel at home in Osaka rather than here on an extended vacation. There's no reason to wait years to eat your favorite food or watch your favorite tv shows like I did! Make yourself at home.