I skipped one afternoon group lunch at Watami, but don't be fast to judge me; I made up lunch with many small bites at the Kintetsu department store basement, where I spent the afternoon staring at beautiful women who worked in the department store and loving the fashion. I had an hour and a half before meeting the group again to do what have become a very common practice, eat. Everything came in my size, including size 4 shoes. I was excited and overwhelmed by the options I had. However, I found it extremely difficult to make my way through the aisles without stopping every 10 feet to bend my back, lower my head and softly whisper konnichiwa (hello), which now sounds like waaaa-waaaa, to reciprocate a bow as the employees greeted me each time I pass them. By the second night, I had mastered the art of bowing, pausing quickly in between the bending and verbal greeting without making direct eye contact and respectfully moving on to my intended location without haste. But the practice didn't come without consequence, I am suffering from a terrible neck spasm and an ache on my lower.
There are thousands of bicyclists on the streets of Osaka. Hundreds of bikes are parked on the streets without locks. Japan is known not only as the safest place on earth with the lowest crime statistic in the world, it is also praised for its cleanliness.
Most of my travel companions have agreed with me that there are few garbage bins on the
streets of Osaka and we find them very difficult to locate. The novelty of spotting a garbage can is often a conversation during our bus rides between destinations. Amazingly though, Osaka is the cleanest street I've ever since anywhere. There was no sight of trash, big or small, in the malls, train stations or restaurants. Neither have we noticed many city sweepers nor public works employees working the floors. How do they keep the streets so clean with a few million people living in one city?
If cleanliness is next to godliness, than Japan is the nirvana of holliness. All the western toilets come with a bidet, options to keep your behind clean and pampered. A few options include, heated seats, water pressure
control, water spray positioning and a sound box to mask any embrassing noises as you do your business. This may be too much information, but I made an effort to try it before leaving Japan. I''ll spare you from the details but the water spray was more relaxing than I had imagine. This was one smart toilet!Like many Japanese made cars, toilet seat models and options are endless. The pictures above are of our hotel model. My sister Ha would like to advise you that her favorite toilet was found at the Osaka history museum with the control panel mounted on the wall. (She's a little odd and easily impressed!)
