Big Ol' Jet Airliner
Tonight is my last night in Japan, and I've only just gotten over my jet lag. So it goes. My big accomplishments these past two days are mi ssing my train station twice (don't blame me if I can't tell an express train from a local train) and beginning to figure out a few of the kanji characters [the one that looks like the Blair Witch stick character is pronounced "Oh"]. Dear lord, I think I finally figured out this crazy keyboard, too. Wait....no. I'm in two different fonts, but I've no idea why. Dommage yet again.
So this last night is in a different hotel where, if not for the glare of the computer screen, I could look out onto the unending metropolis that is Tokyo. Dig. This room is pretty swank, if extremely small. There's even a shiatsu massage chair that can knead the hell out of your back, though you feel a bit violated when you're done. So, to end my posts from the other side of the world, here's my list of Japanese hotel curiosities:
- you take a steaming hot shower. you get out. there's this perfect area of un-fogged mirror. magic? no. simply a heated mirror surface.
- speaking of which, there's an unhealthy obsession with heated things around here. For example, the room temperature defaults to 75 degrees. But the kicker is the heated toilet seats, with two temperatures to pick from! (but no way to turn the heater off)
- whiskey in a can. Strike that--make that whiskey and water in a can, chilled. A very odd drink, but only ￥190, rather a bargain. Damn, I'm gonna be secretly proud if that yen symbol comes out on-line.
- they provide you with a robe/pajamas, yet I still can't get myself to feel comfortable wearing it/them! Perhaps another can of whiskey water will help...
- deep bathtubs. hell yeah. though they're a bit short (and I'm no daddy long legs).
to clarify, I'm not complaining about these things, I'm just commenting that they don't typically exist in the U.S. Which is why I like coming here in the first place. I'd love to try one of the more traditional hotels, sadly I'm not the one making the reservations.
So beginning tomorrow night, I get to start being jetlagged again, only back in Michigan. bring it on, baby.
oh--last bit of wisdom. If you order a Japanese-style breakfast and you're given what looks to be a small iron teapot [f*ing hot, too], be warned that it is not filled with extra tea. In fact, if you try, as I did, to refill your tea cup you will end up with soup-flavored tea. Not wholly unpleasant, yet unexpected nonetheless.
happy Saturday morning, amerikan-jin. it's time for this little traveler to head to bed.
So this last night is in a different hotel where, if not for the glare of the computer screen, I could look out onto the unending metropolis that is Tokyo. Dig. This room is pretty swank, if extremely small. There's even a shiatsu massage chair that can knead the hell out of your back, though you feel a bit violated when you're done. So, to end my posts from the other side of the world, here's my list of Japanese hotel curiosities:
- you take a steaming hot shower. you get out. there's this perfect area of un-fogged mirror. magic? no. simply a heated mirror surface.
- speaking of which, there's an unhealthy obsession with heated things around here. For example, the room temperature defaults to 75 degrees. But the kicker is the heated toilet seats, with two temperatures to pick from! (but no way to turn the heater off)
- whiskey in a can. Strike that--make that whiskey and water in a can, chilled. A very odd drink, but only ￥190, rather a bargain. Damn, I'm gonna be secretly proud if that yen symbol comes out on-line.
- they provide you with a robe/pajamas, yet I still can't get myself to feel comfortable wearing it/them! Perhaps another can of whiskey water will help...
- deep bathtubs. hell yeah. though they're a bit short (and I'm no daddy long legs).
to clarify, I'm not complaining about these things, I'm just commenting that they don't typically exist in the U.S. Which is why I like coming here in the first place. I'd love to try one of the more traditional hotels, sadly I'm not the one making the reservations.
So beginning tomorrow night, I get to start being jetlagged again, only back in Michigan. bring it on, baby.
oh--last bit of wisdom. If you order a Japanese-style breakfast and you're given what looks to be a small iron teapot [f*ing hot, too], be warned that it is not filled with extra tea. In fact, if you try, as I did, to refill your tea cup you will end up with soup-flavored tea. Not wholly unpleasant, yet unexpected nonetheless.
happy Saturday morning, amerikan-jin. it's time for this little traveler to head to bed.
random bits cobbled together by j-dub
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