Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on March 2013

HEALTH BENEFITS

Regarding “Sick and Tired” (The Last Word, Feb 15): I don’t know if you’re a special case, or I am: but in my two years working in Japan, I’ve been sick as a dog and expected to tough it out at the workplace. Missing work in Japan is the guiltiest of follies. Whenever I miss work, I feel like I’m being treated as if did something as awful as kicking a bag of puppies.—citrus

This is a sweeping generalization: some companies will do that, but most do so for flu only. Others have cultures that discourage missing work even for good reasons, and so they work through sniffles and colds and fevers and inevitably spread them.—Christian Walker

Do you think your manager was just concerned about you, or was she concerned about you passing on your illness to your coworkers?—Krang

Unpaid sick leave? Isn’t that illegal? Or is this exploitation of the gaijin worker again?—jholmes

REACHING

Regarding “Jack Reacher” (Movies, Feb 1): One of your best reviews Don, and right on the money. Like everyone else, I wondered how it happened that Cruise was cast to play Reacher, and you just explained it—Cruise cast himself. Comes of having millions of dollars and a six-foot-six ego.—Wayne Pounds

WE ASKED, YOU ANSWERED

We’d like to know: What’s your favorite Japanese food?

Torokeru cheese burger @MosBurger—Christopher Zoellner Pinto
Yakimeshi—Ed Aguilar M
Okonomiyaki, Hiroshima-style—Santiago Hernandez
Takoyaki and chūhai—Colin Keefe
Goya chanpuru—Brad Stephenson
Yuba—Iyan Ho
Alfort Biscuits—Rob Williams
Okinawan soba—Carriel’n Jacobs
Tonkatsu, gyoza & chahan—Jose Carlos Sakamoto Silva
Unagi—Bernard Horton
Yakiniku!—Lisa Maathuis
Katsuo tataki? Hard to choose—Kyle Hedlund
Kushi age.—Malcom Tent
Mitarashi dango!—Laura Stevens
Nabe!—Lisa Wallin
Uni sushi—ダヴィ ブリセン
For me it’s between yakisoba, takoyaki or rice curry.—Subgeta Juan
Yakiniku!—Sarah Harrington Dawe
Okonomiyaki—Jennifer Smith
Chanko nabe—Hermi Kaliwoda
Taiyaki and daifuku mochi!—Shupa Flappy
Fat beefy ramen from some hole in the wall ramen shop, on a cold winter’s night in the back streets of Japan! Just golden goodness! OMG, that’s now made me think of takoyaki. —Paul Paws
Conveyor belt sushi, udon and regular sushi.—@AmaterasValancy
Gyoza!—@Curiousiko
Renkon hasami yaki—@jpandj
Okonomiyaki!—@SecondUtensil
Sushi of course.—@mpg13
Argh, tough question. Soba!—@najinca
Okonomiyaki!! But there’s so many close seconds.—@_kyliejane