Smells Like America

Many American companies have made successful forays into the Japanese market. Costco, or Costico, as the Japanese unwittingly call it, is not one of them. They have a store about four hours from here near a much larger city however they reach only a very limited section of the Japanese population; Japanese who have lived in America, or Americans living in Japan. The Americans love it for the not-surprising fact that they can purchase American products. The Japanese like it because it smells like America. I am still very interested to visit the store and find out what America smells like. The few countries I have visited do have distinct smells, most are not so pleasant, but I couldn't tell you what America smells like.

I have a student who works for Sony. He was able to work in San Antonio for three years and loved the experience. He still misses Mexican food, Mt. Dew, NBA games, his "big" three-bedroom house, and that American smell. He is able to find most of those things at Costico. Two weeks ago he and his family made the eight-hour round trip to Costico in one day and he brought back pure gold for me; a monstrous bottle of Pace Salsa and a bag of Tostitos Tortilla Chips. The labels were even in English! The simple pleasures of life. We have been enjoying the salsa. However I still don't know what America smells like.