Posts about Japan
Japan, How Do I Love Thee?
Japan, how do I love thee?
Let me count the ways.
1) I love how a strong nod or bow will get you far in this country.
2) I love that the Japanese are all about some lucky numbers. Especially the number 5. And lucky animals: owls and turtles.
3) I love how some characters in the Japanese alphabet look like smiley faces.
4) I love your melt-in-your-mouth sashimi and fried udon noodle dishes.
5) I love you have skyscrapers dedicated solely to karaoke rooms.
6) I love your architecture, your rock gardens, your ponds, your bridges, your lily pads, and most importantly your coy fish.
7) I love how hand sanitizer is the primary center piece for all tables, hotel desks, and cashier counters.
8 ) I love that your toilets play sounds of rushing water to encourage the relieving process. I really just love everything about your toilets (see bathroom humor blog for details).
9) I love that you have brought back the parasol and made this simple umbrella such a must-have accessory in the bright sun.
10) I love that the Japanese live 10 years longer than Americans due to their diet and constant consumption of green tea.
11) I love that surgical masks are the new headband. Fashionable and health-conscious. Double threat. Well done.
12) I love that the Japanese never fail to say the phrase, “Thank you for waiting,” even when it’s only been 2 seconds.
13) I love Tokyo Disneyland. And that I can still feel the magic of what Mickey is saying even though it’s in Japanese.
14) I love your bullet trains.
15) I love how your people impress me countless times with such an exceptional level of kindness and hospitality. The Japanese take great pride in doing everything with care; from walking you to your train car to make sure you don’t get on the wrong bullet train, to cleaning hotel rooms until they sparkle, to making the perfect cafe latte. You amaze me.
*A special thanks to Richie Ura, Shiho Akai and Tiffany Kurokawa from the STA Tokyo branch for being the best host and hostesses through Tokyo I could have ever asked for!*
The Golden Temple
Step aside Willy Wonka. I found the Golden Temple, and I hate to break it to you, but it’s way cooler than your golden tickets.
I forcefully blink my eyes open and glance at my watch- 7:29 am. A minute early and right on time for Japan. To my delight, the fabulous Tokyo Prince Hotel was hosting a Kimono Convention. No joke. Spectacular Japanese traditional attire everywhere I turned.
Right then, a lovely 4’9” tour guide approached me and snapped me out of my Kimono trance.
“Sunrise tour?”
“Hi!” I respond.
Side note: Hi in Japanese means “yes,” not the friendly greeting that my American self is used to. This got rather confusing when I stepped off the plane in Tokyo and kept waving and saying hello back to everyone. Whoops. Lost in Translation moment #1.
So I hopped onto the yellow sunrise bus and the sight-seeing commenced.
1st stop: Ryōan-ji Temple. The only way to describe this place is serenity in it’s simplest element. It is famous for its rock garden, and it rocked my socks off. I walked barefoot throughout the entire space and experienced the aura of its zen and relaxation.
Afterward, Kyoko, my tour guide, led us to the treasured gem of Kyoto sightseeing. We strolled along behind her through rock laden walkways garnished with lime green moss and watched swans swim through ponds full of lily pads. As we turned the corner, there it stood. Radiating from between the trees, in all its splendor: the Golden Temple. This stunning architectural feat left me awestruck.
This was one of those travel moments that you just stand there and breathe in the beauty. Also known as the Golden Pavilion, or Kinkaku-ji , it’s one of 17 World Cultural Heritage sites in Kyoto, and in my book, the best.
While it would be a lovely treat to cash in a golden ticket and tour the chocolate factory, I can say with confidence that I’d rather behold this magnificent Golden Temple any day.
Bathroom Humor
Bathrooms. Toilets. Water closets. The Loo. Porcelain thrones.
No matter what you call it, this space is universal. Everybody’s gotta use it, and the Japanese are forerunners for creating state-of-the-art restroom settings that have exceeded my highest expectations of the perfect toilet.
After landing in Tokyo at 6:30 am and breaking the code of the train tables to transport me to the Tokyo Prince Hotel, I head straight to the lobby’s toilet facility. The comforting sight of the stick figure in the dress amidst the mass of Japanese characters beckons my bladder, and I walk inside. You would have thought that I had entered into a sanctuary. Such a peace and a warmth welcomed me in.
As I close the stall door behind me and twist the modern lock, a speaker next to the toilet paper automatically starts playing sounds of rushing water.
“How nice of my Japanese friends to ease any stage fright and encourage the relieving process,” I thought.
I sit down on the sparkling white, clearly sanitized throne and am surprised to experience a delightfully warm sensation- a heated seat. Genius. Another point for Japan.
So as I sit there almost too in shock to carry out the process I came in there to do, I spot an array of multi-colored buttons to my right that I could have sworn whispered “press me” as I near them.
One red button adjusted the seat temperature, a blue button offered bidet services, a green button sanitized the seat, a yellow button was another spray feature, and the rest of the buttons I failed to decipher from the foreign wing dings.
After meeting up with some of the STA Tokyo staff later that day and inquiring about the high-tech nature of the commodes, I have come to find out that Japanese toilets are also equipped to measure your heart rate, blood pressure, and cholesterol level based on a urine sample it takes. Then a robotic from within will let you know if you are in need of a doctor’s check-up. The seats also raise, lower, and tilt depending on desired back support.
So congratulations, Japan. You have officially raised the bar and the seats for toilets around the world, and for that, I am eternally grateful.