Not Like Your Mother Made It!

In honor of my six day vacation (alas, coming to an end as of tomorrow) I thought I would write an extra blog entry today. If you're just now joining us, be sure to check the blog entry titled “Obon” which I posted earlier this evening.

So, to get down to business. Entering my third week here in Japan I've begun to realize that things are a little different here (!!!) Tonight I will focus on food and toilets- the ins and outs of living in Japan, if you will.

One interesting aspect of living in a foreign country is that most of the brands are different. In America I could count on knowing that a brand name or a particular character sold a type of soda, cereal, fruit, etc. Here in Japan I'm having to try different foods by trial and error to see what I like, and brand loyalty is back to square one. For example my favorite fizzy drink here in Japan, recommended to me by another Kyoto JET, is called “CC Lemon.”

It's basically a strong lemon soda, with a catch. According to the label each 500 ml bottle it contains as much Vitamin C as 70 lemons. In milligrams that's a little under a third of an Emergen-C packet, but it tastes about ten times better. I have no doubt that it's unhealthy for me, but I like how it sounds when I tell people I drank 70 lemons with lunch.

Before I continue, the American brands that I -have- found in Japan are Coke, Pepsi, Dole fruits, and strangely Kellog's Frosted Flakes.

Our other comestible item tonight is the Japanese invention known as “peanut cream.” As my family and friends can attest, I love peanut butter. However, the stuff is damn hard to find here in Japan. As a result I found myself crossing my fingers and taking home a small carton of “peanut cream” from the grocery store the other day, in hopes of making myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The good news is that peanut cream tastes (at least to me) like peanut butter. The bad news is that it looks like caramel spread.

I hope the folks back home can take me at my word that this tastes and smells like peanut butter. Although I suppose it is wholly possible that I've been eating caramel and jelly sandwiches for the past three days...

Anyway, I present you with Part II of this blog post entitled “Worrysome Washlets and Warmlets”

The Japanese have two styles of toilet, the first we call a “Japanese Toilet” which is essentially a groove in the floor that you squat over. For a westerner who has been painstakingly trained to use a sit-down toilet since his formative years this poses a serious problem. To stay in the correct position one might cling to the water piping behind the toilet so as not to keel over. One might also post such a confession on the internet. ...I shall do neither...

(This picture courtesy of google image search, I did not have the frame of mind to photograph one of these while actually in its presence)

The other kind of toilet is a “Western Toilet” which is only similar to the toilets back home in shape. These toilets can be found in hotels, homes, and sometimes public restrooms. They come with a variety of delightful functions, for example some will warm the toilet seat for you. In America we have to rely on other people's bottoms to do this for us, but in Japan your “Warmlet” toilet will serve admirably. Other toilets will help you clean yourself by shooting jets of water at you under-carriage as you sit. I encountered one such toilet in my hotel room at Tokyo orientation:

At the time I was suspicious that this “Washlet” function would engage automatically as you sat down- much like the automatic flushing toilets we have in the States. Anyway, it was not a surprise I wanted to experience, so when I heard the sound of rushing water I leapt away in terror. Turns out this sound was a different function of some Japanese toilets. The idea is that some Japanese women are terribly embarrassed by the notion that someone else might hear them answering nature's call. The solution to this was to have toilets that start running a stream of water as soon as you sit down- voila! Bystanders have no idea if it is you or the toilet!

(Consequently, don't pour noxious chemicals like benzine down your toilet. It will make the toilet sad.)

The more Eco-conscious among us might argue that masking natural sounds with running water is wasteful, but other western style Japanese toilets have ingenious ways of saving water. For example, my toilet has two flush settings “big” and “small” depending on what I need to get rid of (never benzine).

Additionally, my toilet refills its tank after every flush through a little sink that sits on top of it. Thus when you flush, the tap at the top of the toilet starts to run and you wash your hands with water that will later be used for the next flush. It saves water and space with no need for an additional sink in your toilet room!

That's all for tonight. I would write more, but I need to go use the bathroom.

-Andrew