I arrived in Japan and thought I'd write more words.
A New Years resolution of mine was to write new words daily, what better way to start than logging my daily ramblings upon arrival in Japan. The jet lag is hitting hard so pardon any typos or bollocks sentences…..my ChatGPT brain isn’t quite working as it was in the GMT zone.
The perfect description of my first impression is the complete opposite to minimalism, hyper-everything as you walk down the streets from what you see to what you hear.
7/11 is like a sensory explosion of high pitched voices that seem to come from invisible speakers and a selection of consumables that only the local OG’s will have a complete understanding of. Upon recommendation of my younger brother who spent last year travelling Asia, I wrapped my chops around the ‘TikTok trend sandwich’; this masterpiece consists of an egg mayo sandwich (crustless) and a spicy crispy chicken breast from the hot counter. Slap that chicken into the sandwich and let the Japanese TikTok trend work wonders on your tastebuds, yes it did, yes it did. A dish full of goodness from a taste perspective but I’ll have a guess the nutrition score is -45.
A personal highlight of mine 48 hours into the trip, bear with me on this one…is the public toilet experience I encountered in a delightful chicken curry spot. A public toilet experience back home (United Kingdom) would usually be nothing short of a crime scene in a BBC crime drama post watershed. However, this experience was more aligned with floating along a river in the Bahamas whilst classical music plays from the trees and you are actually sitting on a cloud (the most comfortable scene I could think of). As I walked into the single cubicle the toilet seat opened up automatically, it was like the toilet was welcoming me with it’s kind understanding arms and whispering to me ”it’s going to be ok, just have a seat”. So that I did, I sat…on a perfectly clean, WARM toilet seat. The toilet seat was heated, I may as well have been sat in the Bahamas if I closed my eyes.
An opening piece of writing about me using the toilet abroad, not how I envisaged this writing to start but you have to move in the most natural direction. So I’ll continue.
A warm toilet seat, that’s where we were; it’s what dreams are made of. And the route to piles I imagine, because this should not be as comfortable as it was. I’ll skip the next few steps of my experience because nobody wants a description of that. If you do you’re on the wrong page. After spending the best part of 2 years living in Asia previously, Singapore, Bali and Thailand; one thing I know apart from its a warmer climate then the uk is that everyone has a clean bum…always. So to my joyous realisation the toilets in Japan don’t just have a hose, they have a control panel that would not look out of place on a NASA spaceship. Labelled with words in Japanese that I did not understand but they were accompanied with some very accurate diagrams (front and back squirt, use your imagination). I left the toilet comfortable, warm, welcomed and most importantly squeaky clean. Arigatōgozaimasu.
So there you have it, a short introduction into my time in Japan that was a brief note of 7/11 and mostly my experience of having a shit. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed that warm seat. See you on the next one.