Went out to dinner last night with my Dad and brother, got home around 9, and almost immediately fell asleep until 6:30AM. Ah, jet lag.

Being home has been nice so far. Things are a lot less different than I for some reason thought they would be, with no reverse culture shock or any garbage like that. The only thing that is noticeably different so far is food-related. Of course I’ve been eating some awesome food that I can’t get back in Japan, but it’s more the little things. For example, when I was in LA waiting for my connecting flight, I went to Starbucks to get a coffee. At Japanese Starbucks, I’ll usually get the medium, which is called a Tall*. Thus, the standard sizes from small to large in Japan are Short, Tall, Grande. In the US, everything is shifted up from this, meaning that the standard sizes at Starbucks in the US are Tall, Grande, Venti. Since Starbucks is of course American, I should say the Japanese sizes are shifted down. Whatever. I almost laughed at this woman who ordered a Venti something-Frappuchino milkshake-thing which looked to be about as tall as her head and covered in whipped cream. It’s interesting to see how these shifts accomidate the local markets, like how a medium US t-shirt is a Japanese large, or how “super spicy” curry in Japan can taste like thick V8. Welcome back to America.

*I had to sit here for a little bit and think about what the Starbucks size names are. I’m a bit ashamed that I could remember them.