A food product made of fermented soybeans. Natto is not glutinous. Rather, it is sticky and soft, so perhaps “gloppy” is a better characterization. Non-Japanese are supposed to hate natto. It is kind of a rule. To enjoy natto is an act of defiance. The Japanese will often make funny noises if you tell them you eat it regularly, usually letting forth a downward arcing “heeeeeeey!” sound.

Fireworks, written with the characters for “flower” and “fire.” Summer fireworks displays are huge events in Japan. People dress in yukata and gather by the thousands – sometimes the hundreds of thousands – along riverbanks to see rival fireworks firms compete.

hot springs bath. Heaven. Absolute heaven. Communal bathing under the stars in a mineral-rich hot springs bath is one of life's great pleasures. Of course, prudish types have steadily tried to ruin the tradition, and now most onsen have separate baths for men and women. But we're old enough to remember the good old days -- half a dozen men and women soaking in a tiny outdoor bath in the hills of Fukushima watching the snow fall and passing a bottle of sake. Perfect ... until someone who had watched "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" one too many times releases the main course from dinner -- roasted Pacific saury -- into the bath. Shrieks, bedlam, naked people running everywhere. Ahh the memories!

... teacher, master, instructor. The title "sensei" carries prestige in Japan. It is applied to school teachers, martial arts masters, revered elders who have knowledge to impart and pasty-faced twenty-two-year-old Americans who teach English for three thousand yen an hour.

Witch woman. This term is applied derisively by the media to young women who sport artificial tans, dyed blonde hair, loose socks and lots of makeup. It's a term from a Japanese folk tale that describes an ogress who terrorizes villagers. Of course, the young women embrace the term, happy at the idea that they might actually scare their elders. The mecca for yamamba is Shibuya.