Bellhops, toilets, and food

My fascination with Japan is immense, and strikes me as curious. Why I would want to study the language, the culture, and the people of an island nation so starkly different than my home country of Pakistan? But that’s the way it is, and as our plane circled over Tokyo, I found myself getting excited to visit the one country I've always wanted to.

Our first culture shock came when both Saeeda and I were struck with the politeness displayed by everyone we approached. This was taken to an extreme at our hotel, where even elderly gentlemen manning the concierge desks would bow deeply and run, literally, to fetch the relevant maps and printouts that would help answer our questions. What struck us as odd, and made me quite uncomfortable, was that all the bell hops were all women.

They insisted on taking our bags from us, placing them on trolleys themselves, pushing these trolleys to our rooms, and then lifting the luggage to place it in our rooms. I kept trying to help them, but they would have none of it. I don’t know if this is something particular to just our hotel – I guess we’ll find out as we change hotels in the coming days.

The really cool thing that I came across as we settled into our hotel room was the toilet. Yep. That’s right – it’s the little things that please me. I had heard about Japanese toilets, but you have to see them to believe them. Ours came complete with instructions, warning signs, and a control panel. Ah the functionality that was built in! The bidet system is undoubtedly one of the greatest inventions of all time, and I don’t understand why the uncouth masses of North America refuse to adopt the practice. But the Japanese elevate the post-defecation cleanup process to an art form. Their toilets coddle your booty by alternately spraying, washing, and heating it. If there is any part of me that will long to return to Japan after our departure, it will be my buttockal region.

It was getting late (because I was spending so long in the bathroom), so Saeeda and I decided to head to a neighboring mall for some food, and leave the better dining experiences for the coming days. However, we were pleasantly surprised with the food that we had. Just as in China, even regular Japanese food tasted so much better than some of the best Japanese food we were used to in the US. We feasted on gyoza, noodles, shrimp, and miso soup, all of the items being extremely tasty. After China, we can’t wait to try all the food here, especially since pork is not going to be as big a problem on an island nation that loves its seafood.