Differences

We've been here a while now it seems, and I haven't yet done the compare-where-you-are-now-to-where-you-were-before thing. But there a couple of less obvious differences that I've been wanting to mention:

Security guards: recently Japan has been becoming "more dangerous" and I noticed quite a few signs of this in Sapporo in the year before we left. There was the policeman with a large wooden stick guarding the front gates of the Russian consulate, who watched me carefully as I sauntered by on my way to the library; the baton wielding, slightly paunchy men carrying cases of money into the bank; the baseball bat standing up against the marble pillar next to the demure bank teller... the first time I saw a money delivery to an ATM here it came as a shock to see the guards being flanked by three men carrying large rifles.

Apartments: when you rent an apartment in Japan, it's usually empty. And I mean empty in the purest sense of the word. Not a stick of furniture, no kitchen appliances (that includes the stove except in the most modern places), not even any lights in flats more than 2 or 3 years old - yes, not so much as a bare bulb: you have to bring your own light fittings and clip them into the sockets in the ceiling.
This means, of course, that when you move out the place must be left in the same virgin state as you found it. The man from the agency (who you probably haven't seen since he pocketed a month's rent at the start of your lease) will prowl around checking the cupboards for stray fragments of noodle, unused cleaning products or criminally abandoned paper towels (I tried to persuade him that they would be useful for the next tenant, or even his own office - it's a waste to throw them out! ... but to no avail. They shamefully ended up in the bin at Sapporo station.) In Hong Kong, our agent, who only took 2 weeks rent as their fee, fell over themself to make sure we had everything we needed, and seemed to want to ply us with IKEA accessories and extra towels.