It is always fun for me while I am traveling to see how the technology is different in every country.

Even little things, like water faucets. In Scotland and Ireland, they were mainly like old style US ones, with separate faucets for hot and cold water. Here in Japan they are like the faucet in the kitchen of my house in California, except instead of pushing down to turn them off, you pull up. When I first got here, all jet-lagged and just plain tired from only sleeping 3 hours in a 25 hour period, I would manage to get the water on but then when I wanted to turn it off I would push it all they way down automatically. Then I would just stand there looking dumbly at the jet of water until Mihoko reached over and turned it off. I don't make that mistake anymore!

Another thing that is different and cool in Japan is the toilets. They are digital! Not all of them - public toilets can be like average US ones - but in most homes and some restaurants they are digital. They have a panel with about seven buttons and a digital readout explaining the status of all the buttons. The buttons control a two-way bidet feature (left to right or front to back), and the force of the bidet water, its massaging capabilities and its source point. There is also a button that produces hot air to use after the bidet, a panic button (Turn everything OFF!) and a set of buttons that controls how hot the seat should be. Flush is like in the US; no cool button for that. All of this in one device! And, when you flush, the water that comes out of the wall to refill the tank first goes through a faucet and falls into a sink on top of the tank, so you can use it to wash your hands. Very efficient.

Mihoko has a washer/dryer combination appliance too. It washes the clothes, drains the water, and then turns on the hot air and dries them - all in one machine! Saves lots of time and space. It is a front loading machine, so the clothes are tumble dried. Harder to use a Bounce sheet type thing (in fact I don't know if you can - might gum up the works), but that doesn't seem to be a problem.

House heating is different in Japan, just as it was different in Ireland and Scotland. There it was mostly radiators. Here it is mostly wall mounted space heaters, so neither generally has central heating. More efficient I suppose to only heat the part of the house you are currently using, but it does mean your room will be cold at first if you forget to turn it on half an hour before you go to bed.

In other news - probably no hot springs today, but possibly karaoke. I'll keep you posted!