There are certainly two things that I will retain from my Japanese experience no matter where fate should lead me. The first is the genkan and the second the chopstick

The genkan is where you leave your shoes before coming into the main body of the house.

http://www.tjf.or.jp/eng/content/japaneseculture/02kutsu.htm

It makes so much sense that I find it difficult to believe that I never lived like this previously. It demarcates the concept of outside from that of inside. The inside is clean, cosy, slipperish or barefooted depending on season or inclination. Outside is like gross.

You can leave your hat on

Never again will I wear shoes in whatever humble butt and ben I should end up in.

Chopsticks are limited when it comes to cutting up huge pieces of beef but other than that  they are cheap , easy to clean, take up no space, er are made of wood, like come in many colours and lots of other reasons for being a good thing.

West meats East

Woof

This sort of condescension masquerading as sophistication or humour I find increasingly irritating.

“And I find chopsticks frankly distressing. Am I alone in thinking it odd that a people ingenious enough to invent paper, gunpowder, kites and any number of other useful objects, and who have a noble history extending back 3,000 years haven’t yet worked out that a pair of knitting needles is no way to capture food?”
― Bill Bryson