My husband went to the local hardware store the other day. What's so exciting about that? You've obviously never been to a hardware store in Japan.

Though we have the same experience every time we go, I'll use the most recent one as an example. He bought a can of varnish. A can of 0.7 liters of it. No, he couldn't buy 0.5 or 1 liter, only 0.7 liters. Perhaps the reason they sell it in this quantity is because 0.7 is just enough varnish for a 3-mat tatami room, or about 4-5 square meters. OK, all good.

If you buy 0.7 liters of varnish, you'd expect it to come in a 0.7-liter can, right? It doesn't! The can could hold much more, but doesn't because you only bought 0.7 liters worth. What? Uh-huh. You get a can that holds 1 liter of paint or varnish, but only has 0.7 liters in it, with no option to choose how much you actually want in it.