The Japanese hi-tech experience

This is a blog about the everyday technology that we experienced in Japan. You may be asking yourselves why I've posted a photo of toilet then. Well, that is because this is a picture of no ordinary toilet but a hi-tech Japanese toilet. Yes, this baby is a called a "Western" toilet in Japan but unlike the ones over here, it comes with many trimmings. These include a pre-warmed seat, a bidet, a dryer and a noise-canceller (this makes noises like birds singing to drown out the noise of your "business"). These toilets are pretty much everywhere - you can see them in bars, restaurants, department stores and also in people's homes. The toilet experience was a firm favourite of Eric's, who could spend hours happily pressing buttons.

Transport in Japan is very hi-tech. The trains like the Shinkansen or "Bullet" trains not only look super-cool but are some of the fastest in the world, going up to speeds of nearly 190 miles per hour. Even the ordinary metro trains in the city are incredibly efficient. They precision park at the platform so that people can queue beforehand in orderly lines (which they do in Japan). They are known for their punctuality. I've heard that if you want to prove you were late for work because of the train, that you have to get a note from the train station saying the train was late, or else your workplace won't believe you. Eric liked how the Tokyo metro had a screen in each carriage that showed you position of the stairs, escalators and exits of the platform of station you are arriving at. I suppose this kind of efficiency is pretty necessary when you are dealing with the massive numbers of people as you are in Japan. Shinjuku station in Tokyo has 3.6 million people going in and out of it every day!!!

We were impressed with the hi-techness (is this a real word?) of everyday people's homes, like in our friends' Hitoshi and Kanako's home in Osaka. As well as the hi-tech toilets, they had a computerised bath which they could set in the kitchen. Basically they pushed a button when they wanted a bath. The bath would then fill itself to whatever temperature you set it to. To give you a bit of time to get ready, the computer would announce in the kitchen "Your bath will be ready in 5 minutes". Then five minutes later - "Your bath is now ready"!!! No toggling with the hot and cold taps. Just one press of a button and hey presto, you have a perfect bath.

Lastly, I was particularly impressed by their kitchen shelves which were designed for a vertically-challenged person like myself. Our friends thought this was pretty funny that we liked their shelves so much, but see for yourselves in above video and watch in awe!

Our week in Kobe: meeting the family

One the main reasons for choosing to go to Japan this year was to see my family. It had been nearly 9 years since I had seen my family in Japan! Also my grannie (Obaachan) is 88 now and the last couple of years has been in a home. She's very healthy mentally but can't walk because of one her legs and has needed extra care. Anyway, myself and Eric talked about it and it just felt like there was no time like the present, especially if Eric wanted to meet my Obaachan.

So on the Saturday we met my Ojichan (my uncle) and my Obachan (my auntie) and my cousin Nobuo in Kobe. They all live in different areas, some in outer Kobe, one near Osaka and Kyoto, but Kobe is a good middle point between everyone. Then we went to visit Obaachan. Boy, was she excited about our visit! She had a photo of myself and Eric by her bed so she knew what Eric looked like already. She was very keen to show him off to the other people in the home. Not only for his dashing good looks, of course, but also they don't get many Western visitors at the home so she felt extra special! Eric ended up wheeling her around for a while in her wheelchair as she non-chalently exclaimed to whoever passed by - 'these are my visitors from Ireland'! She was totally in her element.

It was lovely to see her and to see her in such good form. The woman has got a lot of oomph! Japan has so many elderly people - as a people they really live a long time. My grannie is the youngest in the room she shares. The oldest person is over 100. Obaachan says it makes for very loud and long conversations as most of them are hard of hearing and they are always having to yell at each other across the room.

Later that evening we met up with my other cousin Muneo, his lovely wife Hisako and their kids Yuusuke (4) and Manami (6). As you can see from the pic above they are super cute.

We had a really nice (and big!) Chinese meal with them all. We opted for Chinese as we had Japanese food for every meal for nearly all 21 days. Not that we were complaining. Anyway, the food was delicious and to Eric's delight, plentiful. It was also nice to see the kids and to play with them a little bit.

The next day my cousin Nobuo brought us up into the hills behind Kobe. It's not unusual to see mountains in Japan. In fact quite the opposite as most of the country is mountainous. Kobe city is particularly nice though, because it has the mountains on one side and the sea on the other. We took a cable car which was great fun. I don't know why there aren't more cable cars in the world. It is such a wonderful way to travel! I reckon I will spearhead a movement to bring more cable cars into being. Where there are hills, there should be cable-cars. It gives you great views, it's scary-fun, what more could a body ask for?

This is a pic of Eric with my cousin, who was an excellent tour guide for the day. Later that evening we met up with his wife Mariko, who had just come back from a business trip to Sweden, and my Ojichan and Obachan for a proper Kobe beef dinner. We have no photos of this for some bizarre reason, probably because we were too hungry and forgot. So was it as good as everyone says it is? Did it live up to the beef hype? Well, Eric reckons it was the best beef he has ever eaten (and this is a guy who has eaten a lot of beef). It was so tender he could cut it with a chopstick. Now that's tender! Anyway, it was a lovely meal. Not only was it great for me to see my family again but it was really wonderful for my family and Eric to finally meet. I think after that Kobe beef dinner it won't be the last they see of him either.