I had planned to do this last post earlier in the week, but the jet lag hit us harder than expected. Still getting up way too early, but nothing a good nap won’t take care of.

First, a few comments regarding the country in general. We found Japan to be extremely clean. Both the cities and the countryside. Interestingly, there are few public trash receptacles. (Most were removed as an anti-terrorism measure a few years back). So you get use to having a bag you carry with you for any trash until you find one of the rare receptacles or a trash bin in a building. Restrooms, both in public buildings and in the hotels were extremely clean and technical (more on the technical aspects later). As a former traveling salesman, I have experienced the good, the bad, and the ugly of various public restrooms. Even with the improvements in recent years due to what I call “the Buc-ee’s Affect”, Japan outshines the US.

Japan is also very safe. Very low crime rate, especially violent crime. We were never concerned about our safety walking around a night. Virtually no theft, or pickpockets. I took my pants with hidden zipper pockets designed to thwart the pickpockets you hear about in Europe, and soon realized they were overkill.

Tourism is at an all time high in Japan, as it is in parts of Europe as well. They had an interesting way of addressing the problem. As we got off the ferry on Miyajima Island, Two school girls asked if we could take a quiz on Touristship. They described some of the rules regarding the deer that roamed about, and it became apparent that they were politely asking us to be respectful of their rules and customs.

I also wanted to comment on the impressions we formed from the people we met.

The people are very kind and respectful of others. I really got into the bowing thing. Not speaking the language, it was a way I could easily acknowledge a kindness or show respect. Becky was a hit with her mastery of rhythmically saying Arigato gozaimasu, a formal way of saying thank you.

Our experience was things are very regimented and there is limited flexibility to make changes to processes or plans. If check in time at the hotel is 3:00, it’s 3:00, not when the room is ready. It is a no tipping society, and the one time we offered a tip to a taxi driver who helped us out, he refused. That policy saved us literally hundreds of dollars while we were there. There also seemed to be a pride in doing your job well across all professions, from store owner to road crew flagman. It was nice to see that work ethic.

Fashion seems to also be important. Especially in the cities, people dressed stylishly and always had a neat appearance.

When you travel to other countries, you experience things that make you feel America is lacking, and others that make you grateful for what we have. But there was one feature about Japan that stood out from all the rest: Toilets!

I now realize just how much of a third world nation we are in comparison.

When we returned home, I stood squirming in front of the toilet for five minutes before I re-trained myself how to raise the toilet lid.

And all the seats are HEATED!

The level of electronics involved is amazing.



The computing power in this thing far exceeds that of the Apollo Spacecraft that put man on the moon. And the things it can do!

So come on America, we need to step up our game!