Welcome home! I hope you had a great time.
Beyond the automatic toilets, they have quite a few other pretty neat things in Japan.
If you get a taxi there, the drivers are dressed in suits, NEVER smell bad, and wear white gloves. Also, they speak the language of the country they work in (unlike most in the U.S.). Most of the taxi drivers don't speak English but if you have gone in cabs in the U.S. you are already used to that.
They don't have to get out to open the door of the taxi and you don't have to open it either. They have a button in front that automatically opens and closes the door for you. You certainly don't want to be getting germs from touching the door handle of the taxi!
Also, did you notice how anybody that was feeling at all under the weather or thought they may have been exposed to a cold or flu was wearing a mask in public? It is considered basic manners to wear a mask so you don't cause others to become ill. They give them out free at the train stations and other places.
Also, their bowing does not spread germs through hand to hand contact the way we do here when shaking hands (after coughing or sneezing into it).
Great food there too!!!
Can you tell I miss it a bit? I've been a number of times to Tokyo and Osaka and really enjoyed it. I was working, but I still did get some to explore. The BEST time is mid-April when the cherry blossoms bloom around the cities, highways, and canals.
Trivia: The cherry trees in Washington, D.C. were are gift from Japan (the City of Tokyo). 2000 trees were a gift in 1910 because they knew Mrs. Taft was interested in the idea of lining the reclaimed Potomac river front and some streets in Washington with Japanese cherry trees.
www.nps.gov/cherry/cherry-blossom-history.htm
Mike
