stefaluff wrote:Candy I'm not so sure about- it can melt or get sticky. That's why I say little mini lotions. They're cheap and small and useful to have sometimes in your purse.
mini lotions seems... kind of strange to me. i think candies are a better way to go. omiyage and similar sort of gifts tend to be more often than not edible. if they are trinkets, it puts pressure on the giftee to use said items even if they're not particularly interested in doing so. i would worry about lotions not being agreeable scents for certain people, and possible wholly uninteresting for male teachers/principals/neighbors/whoever-you-are-planning-to-gift. also some people have allergies/asthma which may be aggravated by perfumed/scented lotions.
going with candies or other small, individually-wrapped snacks (cookies/biscuits, crackers, etc.) seems much more appropriate (and cheaper!--you may have 30-40 or more teachers depending on the size of your school(s), and how many schools you will be teaching at). postcards or keychains is also common and seems to be appreciated (based on the number i've seen on teachers' desks), but i think the number one easiest is edible. :]
Melrudin wrote:I haven't had any problems finding chocolate chips here. I live in a relatively small town and my local grocery store sells them (granted in rather small bags).
that was put on the list from something i had mentioned in another thread. i mentioned i preferred to get chips from home because while chips are indeed readily available here, the size of the chips is small (what i would consider "mini" in America), and the bag/portion they're sold in is small. for most of the recipes i make that call for chocolate chips i would have to buy somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 bags of Japanese chocolate chips, rather than one bag of American chocolate chips.
here's a note on toiletries/soaps/cosmetics, etc. if you are particularly attached to a certain brand, rather than loading up on it before coming here, check to see whether they are sold in Japan. i'm a Lush devotee, and fortunately there are a number of Lush shops in the larger cities throughout Japan (including my own~
), so i didn't have to worry about bringing extras from home. there are also a number of Body Shops here (similarly probably only in larger cities), and there is a Japanese version of Herbal Essences shampoos/conditioners that are sold here as well (i've seen them in a number of pharmacies, so they should be easy to find pretty much anywhere). of course, in all of the above examples, the offerings do occasionally vary from their overseas counterparts but are more or less the same thing. those are just three that i know off the top of my head, it's possible there are several other foreign brands/products that have made their way to Japan as well.
I agree about not recommending the blow dryer, though- mostly because it's bulky, and probably won't blow air out either hot enough or fast enough as it normally would.
