Regarding Kris Kosaka's Aug. 15 article, " Surviving a Japanese summer boils down to the art of omiyage": As the wife of a Japanese man since 1974 and as a Paris resident, I enjoyed reading about the "omiyage pleasure-nightmare." Since 1974 I have bought thousands of travel gifts for my husband's visits to Japan. I have also received many precious or original presents from family, friends, business partners and so on.
At first I used to have a special cupboard for received/to-be- given omiyage. If at any time I needed to buy souvenirs, I chose them carefully from my cupboard. As I get older and our family gets larger, I am giving up on this little by little just as my in-laws are. We do share food presents such as French mustard, jam, olive oil, tarragon, cheese, green tea, nori, yusu paste, etc.
These days my sons and their French wives and friends don't feel so bound to the omiyage obligation when they go to Japan. To tell you the truth, it has been hard at times to choose, buy and pack omiyage, but I still keep them as good souvenirs now that I don't do the custom much anymore.