Japanese Bathroom

The second greatest thing about Japan was the bathrooms. I'll get to the greatest thing next time. It's awesome.

We did a lot of drinking and walking around in Japan, so there wasn't always a bar or restaurant restroom to use. But there always seemed to be a public outdoor toilet around, and that was highly convenient, despite there being no toilet paper.

The hotel bathroom was really cool. In Korea, they have the high-tech toilet seats in fancy places, as well, but there aren't handy English directions for me to read at Lotte department store or the posh bars around here. But at the Japanese hotel, I was warned that upon sitting on the seat, a flow of water would begin and last for a few seconds and that the seat was heated. I also learned how to use the bidet properly, which was amusing. It made me wonder about the testing process in getting the stream direction, temperature, pressure, and diameter just right. Yes, very funny. The only thing the directions did not explain was which flush control was for light flush and which was for heavy, but that's easily solved through trial and error.

The first morning after my shower I discovered the suitest thing:

It's a little hard to see because I had to go next door to borrow Emily's camera and the bathroom had cooled down by then, but notice the difference between the left side of the mirror and the right side. The mirror covers most of the wall over the sink and toilet, as I recall, but there's this very clear rectangle over the sink that doesn't fog up while the hot water is going, so you don't have to wipe off the glass to style your hair, shave, do makeup, whatever. That's so awesome.

I also liked that the hotel didn't use miniature bars of soap or shampoo and conditioner bottles. Instead they conserved a lot of plastics by having wall-mounted, push-button containers of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in the shower, next to the sink.