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trombonishFurther observations on Hiroshima:
For some reason, some peoplee wear paper masks around and about. There were a rather lot in the Narita airport, and on the Narita to Hiroshima flight. I just attributed it to slightly tinfoil people being paranoid about public places. But people wore them to work too, and this is considered totally acceptable.
Shoes provided the crisis of the day. Apologies in advance, I am probably being culturaly insensitive, but sharing this as a day of being an Other. We arived at the plant, were NOT met by our hosts. Immediately inside the plant is rows of tiny lockers, and everyone is busily taking off their shoes and putting on other slip-on canvas shoes. There is a row of lockers for guests to put their shoes, but instead of availible canvas shoes, there is a small stack of pleather slippers: just a toe and a sole, and all of them massively too small for the menfolk in our party. So they gamely yet dantily pick their way over to the elevator, and go up to "R&D" at the top. It opens into a large, lovely lobby... with stairs up to the offices. Watching 7 grown men attempt to climb stairs in slippers was HILLARIOUS. It is the same challenge I have always had with backless shoes falling off, but they had ZERO practice, and kept dropping their shoes. Eventually we were able to secure canvas shoes for work.
Another observation about Japan, is they have excedingly complex toilets. I'm not even talking about the differences between the sitting toilets and the squatting toilets (haven't tried the later yet, but work provides both). The very simple toilets at work are basically standard flush, though there appears to be a call box posted in each stall... "press here for assistance"? The ones at the airport were slightly more complex, had a couple of dials on the side, and the flush knob hidden round the back. The one in my room has a whole LOT of buttons and dials on the side, apparently color coded boy/girl with not descriptive enough descriptions, and a few more besides, and as soon as you start to pee, a motion sensor starts running water into it, I guess so you don't have to hear it? There's a lot of motion sensors in Japan. I might be brave enough to try the buttons and levers later in the privancy of my own room where no one has to listen to me be surprised by attack water.
Tonight, though, we were taken by our hosts to a WAY over the top fancy dinner with 6 cougras, 9 glasses, and 35 pieces of silverware, french as interpreted by Japan. I might discuss the dinner later (suffice to say I have now tried foie gras), but this toilet had lights, and a butt warmer, and in addition to the rapidly becoming familiar array of dials and buttons on the side of the seat, an additional control panel on the wall with more features. I must admit to trying none of them, though between the fumbling through a very formal dinner and wiping my bum like a barbarian rather than submit to this toilet spa, I left the place feeling quite uncultured indeed.
And yes, I remember the lessons from our Japanese class - it is a show of hospitality, and also a bit of an obligation to be taken to such an outrageously over-the-top restaurant.
For some reason, some peoplee wear paper masks around and about. There were a rather lot in the Narita airport, and on the Narita to Hiroshima flight. I just attributed it to slightly tinfoil people being paranoid about public places. But people wore them to work too, and this is considered totally acceptable.
Shoes provided the crisis of the day. Apologies in advance, I am probably being culturaly insensitive, but sharing this as a day of being an Other. We arived at the plant, were NOT met by our hosts. Immediately inside the plant is rows of tiny lockers, and everyone is busily taking off their shoes and putting on other slip-on canvas shoes. There is a row of lockers for guests to put their shoes, but instead of availible canvas shoes, there is a small stack of pleather slippers: just a toe and a sole, and all of them massively too small for the menfolk in our party. So they gamely yet dantily pick their way over to the elevator, and go up to "R&D" at the top. It opens into a large, lovely lobby... with stairs up to the offices. Watching 7 grown men attempt to climb stairs in slippers was HILLARIOUS. It is the same challenge I have always had with backless shoes falling off, but they had ZERO practice, and kept dropping their shoes. Eventually we were able to secure canvas shoes for work.
Another observation about Japan, is they have excedingly complex toilets. I'm not even talking about the differences between the sitting toilets and the squatting toilets (haven't tried the later yet, but work provides both). The very simple toilets at work are basically standard flush, though there appears to be a call box posted in each stall... "press here for assistance"? The ones at the airport were slightly more complex, had a couple of dials on the side, and the flush knob hidden round the back. The one in my room has a whole LOT of buttons and dials on the side, apparently color coded boy/girl with not descriptive enough descriptions, and a few more besides, and as soon as you start to pee, a motion sensor starts running water into it, I guess so you don't have to hear it? There's a lot of motion sensors in Japan. I might be brave enough to try the buttons and levers later in the privancy of my own room where no one has to listen to me be surprised by attack water.
Tonight, though, we were taken by our hosts to a WAY over the top fancy dinner with 6 cougras, 9 glasses, and 35 pieces of silverware, french as interpreted by Japan. I might discuss the dinner later (suffice to say I have now tried foie gras), but this toilet had lights, and a butt warmer, and in addition to the rapidly becoming familiar array of dials and buttons on the side of the seat, an additional control panel on the wall with more features. I must admit to trying none of them, though between the fumbling through a very formal dinner and wiping my bum like a barbarian rather than submit to this toilet spa, I left the place feeling quite uncultured indeed.
And yes, I remember the lessons from our Japanese class - it is a show of hospitality, and also a bit of an obligation to be taken to such an outrageously over-the-top restaurant.