The Exciting and The Terrifying

Public toilets are always a mildly scary thing for me. Germs, smells, potential lack of necessary equipment, etc. Japan has taken my feelings about public toilets to a whole new level. From the bizarre, to the "wow, this is awesome", to the "I pray I never have to use that ever in my life".

Somehow, I have managed to avoid using the infamous "squatty potty"... it terrifies me.
The thing I find strange is that a lot of Japanese seem to prefer this, I'm sure it is what they are used to, but I've had to have Rylan and Beckam use these, and they are way dirtier and smellier. Any guess why? I'm not even sure how I would manage this without stripping everything off.

Here is fairly typical "Western-style" toilet. (heaven bless the person who introduced Western-style to Japan!) None of the buttons on the handle are for flushing. Good luck figuring out what they are for :)

Directions on how to use a Western style toilet...no standing on it, or sitting backward

Directions on how to use all the buttons on the handle

Here is a close up of some of the options you might have while using one of the high-tech toilets. Two different sprays for different areas, increase or decrease the water pressure, you can have the toilet make a flushing sound, you can also increase or decrease the volume on the flushing sound, "powerful deodorizer", clean the nozzle's of the sprayers, and my personal favorite the heated seat option. We stayed in a cabin last weekend, it was freezing, and I said a little prayer of gratitude every time I sat down on the toilet. Ingenious. I will be bringing one home.

There are even more high-tech toilets out there that I have yet to encounter. I think some greet you, some automatically lift and lower the lid. My friend's toilet has a sink above the tank so the clean water you use to wash your hands get's recycled to flush the toilet! How very green of them :)
Even though we don't really feel like tourists anymore, the simplest of activities are still mini-adventures :)

Surprise...We're Alive!!!

I think it is rather appropriate that after a 6 month or so hiatus, my first blog back is about food. My life revolves around it. With so much that has happened to us and for us since we've moved to Japan the thought of blogging has been overwhelming, so I figured I would start small.

Is ice cream universally delicious??? Most treats in Japan have been...well, different. Does red bean curd sound tempting? It's not bad, (unless you expect it to be chocolate, since they are the same color, and bite into a treat expecting chocolately goodness, only to have the bland taste of red bean curd, then it's disgusting) but that's it for me, sweets have typically been "not bad". (that does exclude chocolate, their chocolate is yummy) Then we tried their ice cream. Delish. And not just delicious, but their ice cream is in line with many things Japanese, innovative.

What's the best part about an ice cream cone? The end of the cone, the part, the last bite where the cone is soft and full of creamy ice cream. Now imagine a product that is entirely the end of the cone...yes, not only is it possible, but it's here and readily available:

Not only is is delicious, but it avoids the typically huge mess we have when our boys eat ice cream. Who could ask for anything more?

Also, for anyone who is crazy enough to hate cones, they have an awesome way of delivering that option as well:

It's like a single serving of soft-serve ice cream. Just pop the top off and squeeze it right into your mouth...

Both options are in grocery stores or vending machines all over Japan! (are they not ingenious???) There are many things I often wonder why we haven't adopted them in the US and vice versa. We have been enjoying our adventure in this exotic country, hopefully I'll be better about sharing those adventures from now on...we'll see :)