What I liked best about Japan

Earlier this year Lyle and I were lucky enough to travel to Japan with some good friends.  We just tagged along, as our friends have been several times before and they organised everything.  We stayed in some amazing places and had some amazing food, and some of us (not me) skied like Olympians.

There were some great highlights

·       The skiing

·       The food

·       Hanging out with friends

·       The culture

·       The history

·       The landscape

·       The people

·       The subway

·       The bullet trains

However, probably my favourite thing about Japan was, wait for it, …. the toilets!

Every toilet I went into, whether a public toilet in the subway, or at a 5 star resort were AMAZING.  What was so good about them, I hear you asking – well let me tell you step by step about going to the toilet in Japan.

1. The first thing you notice is how clean and tidy all the toilets are.

2. When you sit down, you receive a nice surprise, as the seat is not only soft and padded, it is also heated.

3. As soon as you have yourself seated and are enjoying the warm feeling, you hear a waterfall cascading down or birds cheeping from high in the trees.  The first time you hear it, it surprises you, but you soon realise it is for privacy so the person next to you can’t hear any noises you may or may not be making.

4. So, when you have finished your business – you are then faced with the choice of what to do next.  There are four buttons to choose from.  Stop, spray, bidet, dry, as well as the + and – on the water pressure.

I was a bit reluctant to try them all at first, but then I became brave and thought, go on, give it a go. So, I did and … bullseye!  I then tried every button and let me tell you they all hit the spot.  I tinkered with the water pressure a little and found the settings that suited my needs and then I dried everything with the warm air dryer.  I swear you could even dry your hair while sitting on the loo.

5.       In most toilets, the flushing, soap and water were automated as well.  If indeed you did come across one that didn’t flush on its own, you felt quite annoyed that you had to actually flush it manually.

As great as all this sounds – there are a couple of drawbacks that these fabulous toilets present.

1.       You can waste a lot of time in the loo. 

2.       It’s really hard to come home to cold, hard, plastic toilet seats and toilet paper.

3.       I can only imagine how hard it would be to toilet train children.  They would be pressing buttons until the cows come home.

If you are lucky enough to be travelling to Japan, I’m certain you will love everything about it, but make sure as soon as you exit the plane, you find a toilet and check it out.