SOLVED. YA compilation of short stories read circa 1998. Title along the lines of "Somewhere on a Cleaner Planet". Included the story "What do Fish Have to do With Anything?" by Avi. [s]

[Ian]

One story involved a (Japanese?) family who lived in a biodome receiving a lost traveler, and another took place in Billings, MT, USA.

[Wendy]

What Do Fish Have to Do with Anything?: And Other StoriesWhat Do Fish Have to Do with Anything?: And Other Stories

or Talk to Me and Other Stories

[bookel]

Searching the Avi story on worldcat.org brings up the list of contents.
It is the same book.

Talk to me
Originally published as: What do fish have to do with anything? Cambridge, Mass. : Candlewick, 1997.
Description: 149 pages ; 20 cm
Contents:
What do fish have to do with anything? --
The goodness of Matt Kaizer --
Talk to me --
Teacher tamer --
Pets --
What's inside --
Fortune cookie.

http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=kw%3...

[Kate]

Ian, this sounds like a likely solution. Is it your book? We love to have confirmation from the OP. Thanks!

[Ian]

Forgot about my search for this book until my mother mentioned it in conversation earlier today: In particular she was thinking of the same short story I brought up regarding a family living in a secluded dome house. They take in some lost traveler or fugitive and serve him a dish of spicy Japanese pancakes which give him an upset stomach.
I'm nearly certain the anthology I'm thinking of did have the story "What do fish have to do with anything?" by Avi, but none of the other stories from his compilation of that name seem to fit what I remember. Avi's website mentions that he has contributed to various youth/YA short story collections but doesn't name them.
I do also remember the stories in my book having been written by different authors.

[Ian]

The traveler is wounded, fatigued or otherwise in a state of reduced mental capacity, and at some point the exotic food and the unfamiliar design of the house lead him to believe he's been abducted by aliens.

[Rainbowheart]

Some of the Kinder Planets kinda matches in terms of the title, but it doesn't seem to contain the Avi story.

Any chance you're mixing together two different books?

[Ian]

Sounds like I did get these two books cross-threaded - I'll be checking out a copy of Some of the Kinder Planets as soon as my library opens on Monday to confirm. Thank you so much!

[Kris]

Here's the Google Books preview of Some of the Kinder Planets: Stories by Tim Wynne-Jones - Rainbowheart's suggestion:

https://books.google.com/books?id=TQF...

[Ian]

This is indeed the collection I was looking for, thanks all for helping to put this decades-old search to rest.

[Rainbowheart]

Awesome news, glad to help out!