Well, Adam scolded me yesterday because I forgot to write about a few of the more memorable things we have come across here. First though, an account of our last day in Tokyo. We started out early - ok, not as early as we should have, as we're still in a bit of the beachbum mentality - but early enough. Our early morning destination was the famous Tokyo fish market. We were too late to catch the auction, but wandered among hundreds of stalls selling all kinds of fish - some we never knew existed. There were shrimp of all sizes, miniature squid and their normal-sized friends, bright red octopus, pufferfish (for the infamous fugu sushi), eels, tuna that weighed as much as me that were cut up with 5 foot long knives, flounders, scorpionfish, and hundreds of other things we couldn't identify. Some were packed on ice, some deep frozen, some still alive - it was a maze of seafood, and chaotic with so many buyers running around and guys on little flatbed electric carts carrying the sold and packaged fish to and fro. Then you could wander around the corner to the resturaunts where they sell the freshest sushi imaginable. We went to look, but declined a sushi breakfast.

Our next stop was the National Sumo Museum. Unfortunately it's out of season right now, or we would have gone to a live match, but we had to settle for the museum where we learned the intricate process of making and blessing the ring, watched a few taped matches, and saw lots of old sumo art and photographs. A pretty interesting sport that we may just have to come back to see some day. We ended the day with a delicious meal where we cooked our own meat at the little grill at our table. It was delicious - the best beef I have ever eaten - it almost melts in your mouth. And we toasted our last supper as international travelers, although I guess tomorrow night's dinner on the plane may count as well.

So, on to the gadgets. First of all, the toilets here are crazy. Its winter here, and pretty cold, and many toilets have the extravagance of heated seats. No joke! It's over the top, but quite luxurious on a cold winters day! Plus lots of them have little control panels on the side so you can operate them. Many have bidet features on which you can control the pressure and temperature of the water, and a different kind of bum wash, though I haven't tried any of those. Most toilets have buttons for two kinds of flushes too, but my personal favorite is the 'flushing sound' button. No actual flushing, just the flushing noise... (?)

The only other one I'll mention is the menu machine. At some of the smaller resturaunts there is a vending machine looking thing out front where you order your food at the machine and pay for it before even entering the resturaunt. My favorite ones combine this with a display case containing plastic examples of all their dishes so you can see what they look like before you order. Aaaahhh, Japan. So entertaining...

Well, that ends it, I guess. Stay tuned for one more post which will go up sometime soon. We may also try to post some pictures at some point when we have the luxury of unlimited computer access. Thanks to all of you who have read this over the long journey. For now I will simply say sayonara " 'cause mama, mama I'm coming home..."
:o)
Andrea