Take it back?!

The crowds have been getting to me lately... I'm angry for no reason. I'm sick of the drunk サラリーマン and their female counterparts. On the train I find myself fighting the urge to push people that have innocently bumped into me because the driver hit the brakes too hard or because the train hit that curve that only I seem to know about...

I'm not really homesick, per se, but there are definitely things that I miss. A couple days ago I bought a bottle of my favorite wine. It was on sale and I had had a particularly boring day at work. When I opened it, though, it tasted absolutely horrible. It was as if something had died inside. I had S. taste it, too--just to make sure that it wasn't a sign that my taste buds had gone bad. When I said something about taking it back to the store, he looked at me like I had just sprouted another head. Take it back? Take it back?! This is apparently unheard of in Japan. He was actually shocked when I told him that I used to do it all that time. [For good reason, of course. Like that entire 12-pack of Coke that was just defective enough so that the tab would fly off instead of opening the can... Of course, a few cans I opened with a butter knife, but the Kash N' Karry allowed me to exchange the remaining cans just the same.] Maybe I'm crazy, but I think there's something a little off about a country that doesn't allow you to return defective merchandise. And trust me, when your wine tastes like something died in it, it's defective!!