Easy Peasy Japaneasy (what I learnt in tokyo)

The toilet is electric, well besides the flushing part so there are all these warning on how not to electrocute yourself.  if you plug the toilet in there are all these options, toilet seat warmer, bidet, spray (I think it sprays up your errhhh) and my favourite fake flushing sound to cover up any noises you may be making.  The toilet also has an open water tank at the top so you can wash your hands with the water before it goes into the toilet…. which feels dirty but obviously is a good idea for the environment.

The bed really is just a 5cm heigh cushion on the wooden floor- not so comfortable.  I tried to solve my uncomfortable problem by putting both of my dinning room chairs in my bed for extra padding.  Of course dinning room chairs are also 5cm heigh cushions so now my bed is a 10cm heigh cushion.

The metro contrary to popular belief the metro system is particularly easy to use due to all the stops being numbered and colour coded so you don’t even need to know the stop names.  Not really sure why no one bothered to point this out to me before I came or why its not in any of the guide books also interestingly during rush hour they have women only carriages.

The rubbish tokyo has the most confusing rubbish system I’ve ever seen but it seems to be paying off as there is no rubbish anywhere.  On Saturdays they collect plastic containers, coat hangers and cd covers, on Wednesdays they collect paper, glass, another type of plastic container and cans on Mondays and Thursday they collect food scraps, rubber boots, nappies, clothes, wasabi tubes and soccer balls and on Tuesday they collect light bulbs, china cups, irons, lighters, glass, knives, umbrellas and cameras.  All rubbish is collected before 8am and can not be put out the night before. 8am is far too early for me so I’ve not put anything out also I’m worried as i can’t work out the different types of plastic which goes out on different days and I don’t know where to put my tin foil.  I’m thinking I might just bring my rubbish with me and throw it out at Heathrow on the way home.

The people are so polite and bow all the time, it makes you feel like a princess as well as a little bit uncomfortable as obviously i’m not usually bowed at.  It seems to me that all westerners like to smile at each other like we are somehow familiar with one another or somehow in the same boat due to our non asian-ness and at 5 o’clock everyday there is a very musical  bell for all young children to go home as they are no longer allowed in the street, it sounds like the pied piper.

The shopping you just see stuff here that you’ve never seen before like the biggest displays of designer handkerchiefs you’ve ever seen in your life- who knew that Vivienne Westwood/Burberry/Gucci made handkerchiefs and flannels? or that you need a little plastic thing that you can put cheerio sausage shaped food things into and turn your cheerio sausage shaped food things into little cartoon characters.

The conclusion I love japan and I can’t work out why the american’s bombed them (idiots).