Tokyo TOTO Showroom

While this blog title begs for the toilet to be "western-style", Japanese bathrooms are quite possibly one of the top most amazing things in Japan. Well, for me, anyway. They are masters at water conservation, cleanliness, ease of use, and top notch technology. If money was no object, I'd remodel my bathroom with current TOTO products in no time! So imagine my delight when I found out they have a showroom you can tour in Shinjuku, Tokyo! It's free to go and there's two floors of product displays.

All thanks to this video, which is pretty cheesy, but a good example of the complexity of Japanese TOTO toilets.

My favorite is how you can play noises to cover up your bathroom noises. Also, Japanese soak tubs are so relaxing! And the fact that the entire shower has drains in the floor? So cool! Alright, I'm done obsessing weirdly over Japanese bathrooms.

Oh, so to explain the blog title a bit more, when in Japan the public restrooms may have a wester-style toilet AND a squat toilet, which I do not like (as a girl). It seemed even Japanese native women didn't prefer them either as there was a line at a station but the two squat toilet stalls were available. No one made a move for them.

Another thing to try at McDonald's

CHOCOLATE COVERED FRIES?!

This is a thing that will hopefully still be there in November!

Japanese Themed Restaurants and Cafes

I'm sure you've seen at least one article about a wacky cafe in Japan. Cat Cafes, Owl Cafes, Maid Cafes,  Prison restaurants, video game-themed restaurants. It seems Japan is always coming up with some bizarre or wild themes to go with your dining experience. Sometimes they are themed for a super-fan, so if you don't know much about the franchise, the experience might be lost on you.

I felt like that at the Biohazard (Resident Evil) themed cafe. Don't get me wrong, the place was outrageous with props displayed in cases, neat lighting, and even a short show of young ladies in short-shorts dancing with guns as a Nemisis replica is in a large lit tube trying to escape. Oh, and they danced to Spice Girls' "Spice Up Your Life".... Yeah, in fact, a lot of the music playing while we ate were 90's pop. It was super surreal. The food we ate was also sub-par and overpriced, but that's what you get with a tourist attraction, which is generally what these are. Otaku tourist traps. So if you're into the fandom, I recommend trying out a fandom-themed cafe!

This next trip I'm hoping to give the Final Fantasy Cafe, Eorzea, a try! You do need to buy tickets to get in, so thankfully they have this site that shows you how to obtain them through Lawson's. You even get a free drink doing it this way!

If they don't cater to your fandom, maybe try out a Cat Cafe, Owl Cafe, Rabbit Cafe, or whatever animal-theme you're into. If it's cuddly, they probably have a cafe for it!

What if you want adorable humans with your overpriced food? How about a maid cafe? These cafes come in all types and themes too, from your normal lolita-esque maids, to traditional kimono and hime maids, to even cross dressing men as maids. It seems some places have a table charge, and you also can't take pictures of the maids. I've never been to a maid cafe, so I'm unsure if there's much of a language barrier. Their cute sayings and flirtings may be lost to one without much knowledge of the Japanese language.

And if cute animals and maids aren't your thing. Looking for something darker? How about going to prison? Last time I was in Japan a friend took us to this brilliant restaurant called The Lock Up.
It was great and the food was good too. We played sushi roulette (one piece was entirely filled with wasabi), and they had some really good nachos! CNN made a list of the Top 5 Strangest Theme Restaurants.

Go try one of these bizarre food experiences. I hope it's a good one!

Visiting Hiroshima as an American

I have not been to Hiroshima, but my husband and I definitely want to make it a part of our next trip. What should we expect as Americans visiting the site our nation bombed during World War II? According to websites and travel blogs, there's no need to be apprehensive. Kate Berardo says it well in her Culturosity Article "Hiroshima: An American in Japan" :

     "Hiroshima is a city you feel you need to go to when in Japan. The lessons to be told are          

     undoubtedly difficult, but necessary for many people to hear, especially Americans."

Or you can view it as Rabbi Shmuley did when he visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial:

     "But we Americans accept that whatever the tragedy of Hiroshima it was not done out of spite,   

     hatred, or malice but of military necessity. It did not reflect American evil or cruelty but an 

     inescapable and ugly necessity of war."

And notice how the memorial is titled a PEACE memorial. We have all accepted what has happened, done our best to make peace with each other, and it's up to us to learn about all sides of history so that we do not repeat the mistakes of our past.

WikiTravel's Guide to Hiroshima