Japanese Things

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  Miwa, Japan
Sunday, October 15, 2006

The main focus of this little entry is on Japanese Toilets and Japanese TV. Both are highly entertaining!! First of all, Japanese toilets are pretty much the same as Indian Toilets. Porcelain bowls in the ground. So you definitely have to squat to use them. And be sure to face the right way! Well, at the school I am teaching at I thought there was only Japanese toilets. For two months now I have been using the Japanese style toilets. Which is no big deal, Im a veteran of the squat growing up in the Northwoods and all. But, the other day I found a Western toilet!! I was so excited!! The funny thing is that its in the same bathroom as the Japanese toilets, but I thought the stall it was in was a closet!! Hahaha! I shoulda checked that out a little more closely! There is a huge difference between Japanese toilets and Western ones especially here. First of all, you dont have to squat which is nice. It can get to be pretty tiring. But, not only that, the Western toilets here have a variety of functions including heated seats, a drying function which is a breeze of air, a bouday (spelling anyone?) for ladies, and a few other buttons that do some mysterious things. With so much variety why would they stick to the Japanese toilets?!?! It is definitely a much more enjoyable experience using the Western Toilets especially when the seat it heated! Unless you are in a public place. Then I think a Japanese toilet is much better because you dont have to worry about sitting on a nasty toilet seat not knowing who in God's name has been there last!! Maybe the men reading this wont understand how horrific public bathroom experiences can be for women, but boy it can get pretty sketchy! So then Japanese toilets are nice.

01. Japanese Toilet

And in their homes, most Japanese have Western toilets. But, on the seat there is some cloth cover thing so you dont sit directly on the porcelain. And one of the Ladies from the Unofficial JET welcoming committee who helped me get settled had me buy one!! Haha! I think it will be quite nice in the winter. Not having to sit on the cold porcelain! I hope so anyhow. Now if you think this is entertaining, wait till I tell ya about Japanese TV! I definitely miss American TV, but I can rent most popular shows at the video store here. So thats a blessing!! Here's an example of what Japanese TV is like. I was at the gym running and they had the news on. I was half watching it, but then all of a sudden this story came on about a man who got bit in the butt by a bear. I think the focus of the story was how he didnt get hurt cause his wallet was in his pocket and he managed to kick the bear in the head. But, the funny part is how this story was reported. The reporter lady was crouched down, with her hands like claws and she was chasing the man around with her face like 3 inches from his butt!! It was hysterical!! This went on for like 5 minutes because first they had to make clear how the bear was chasing the man (this is the part where she followed him around with her face like 3 inches from his butt!!), then they had to demonstrate many times how the man turned and kicked the bear in the head. So picture a Japanese man being chased around by a woman pretending to be bear with her hands all claw like and her face in a scowl and 3 inches away from this guys butt!! I couldnt contain myself. It was too much. I burst out laughing!! There is also hysterical game shows that involve people dressing up in drag and spinning around on some sorta thing that stops infront of some other ppl and the people spinning around in Drag have to answer the question asked by the ppl wherever they stop and if they get it wrong they spin again. I really have no idea what the point of all this is especially since I dont know Japanese and this is what I could decipher!! Hahaha! It was hysterical. Too entertaining. Well that should cover it. Till next time!

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