Miscellaneous

So not so many exciting things have happened since my last blog. We redid the christmas lights and planted some sapplings. We also bonded with the kids a lot and I no longer see them as small crying animals, but as cute children, which is huge for me as most of you must know. They have names, Aochan and Daichan. We have been watching a lot of japanese anime movies, which I must admit, we love. Once we have seen them the first time with english subtitles I like watching them again with no subtitles to really get to see the animation and not focus so much on the words.



Because not much has happened Im going to take this opportunity to bring up some of the random things Ive noticed about japan.



1. Apparently in a home or hostel it is unacceptable to have a cold toilet seat. All of the toilets I have come across in these places have very high tech heated toilet seats. I think this is a great idea and expect to have one when I arrive back home (get on that mom)



2. Japan is very similar to the US but almost always one step ahead of us. For instance the bathtub will tell you when its almost full so you can go and turn it off. Another example that we stumbled across the other day by accident is that the vending machines dispense both cold and hot beverages! Hot coffee from a vending machine! Also, they have all in one washer/dryers and dish washers are very small! like bread baskets! The microwave can also toast and bake a cake.

3. We have learned that Japan comes out with different flavors of kit kats all the time. Not only are these flavors release for a limited time only, but they are released specifically for each region. For instance, people need to go to Kobe to find the Royal Milk Tea flavor, but then go to Osaka to get the Soy Sauce flavor. (not a typo) Its a really good marketing ploy and we are now on a mission to try every new flavor we find. Yes. Even the soy sauce flavor.

I always think of these random things when I:m walking around Japan and of course once I sit down I cant remember. i need to start writing things down.

Update: today we chopped down bamboo trees to use as poles in the garden. I sawed down about 150 trees. Im actually a pretty great lumber jack. Who knew? Aside from almost losing an eye (I actually thought I dented an eyeball when a huge branch went darting straight into my eye) it was actually a very rewarding day.