The Opera Populaire

One thing I find impressive abt Japan were their toilets. While not all were squeaky clean or free from the inevitable foul smell, most definitely were up to standard. I was endlessly amazed at the toilet bowl. Many came equipped with seat warmer, and you can actually adjust the temperature. They oso have those buttons with options to rinse your posterior, make sounds to mask unpleasant noises and also deodorants to disguise odours. And a lot of the cubicles have special seats for babies to sit on beside their mothers. I had read about these before going to Japan and had thought that these were only selectively available, but I was proven wrong becos they were actually quite commonly used there.

In general, I oso found the Japanese to be quite accomodative towards the handicapped, which I think S'pore really should improve on. The way up Glover's Hill in Nagasaki was equipped with escalators, which an old uncle in my group rightly pronounced,"Wonderful!" I saw many handicapped on the streets moving around with high-tech wheelchairs operated by machines. The Japanese oso seem to avoid using the toilets for the handicapped.

On a not-so-wonderful note, my Mom took some offence at the political statements of our tour guide, who was rather anti-China despite having learned Chinese for four years in his undergrad days. He made remarks such as his pen was lousy becos it was made in China; Japanese goods would never be so poorly made. And he said that the Japanese did not re-write or deny history; they merely choose not to teach those who are not ready to absorb such profound truth yet. Blatant statement of balderdash, if you ask me. Grandpa was extremely incensed when Mom told him all that, saying that he was so right in choosing not to go for the trip etc etc.

The food there was good. The first morning, we had the most wonderful breakfast where I ate the nicest whipped butter and strawberries. We bought strawberries all the way afterwards, since you dun get such sweet ones back here. There were also nice mochi along the way, some filled with red bean paste and one particularly nice one filled with red bean as well as sweet potato. I also tried onigiri filled with plum instead of fish. The ramen at Golden Dragon in Osaka was so nice and smooth. Wanted to try the octopus balls there too but the queue was super long.

Enjoyed the kimono show at Kyoto. All the designs were beautiful and so were the models. There was this kimono with lace sleeves and neckline! Mom was telling me that I should consider wearing a kimono for my wedding next time. Hmm...anybody wanna contribute to my kimono trust fund, copying Raine's Mulberry trust fund idea??

I won a Mickey Mouse soft toy after a quiz by my tour guide. He has with him a set of clothes with the calendar of 2006 printed on them and you are supposed to change his clothes every month to correspond with the month. I like him lots! The aunties told me to name him "Nikko" or "Ito-san", after my tour guide. But I think I'll stick to "Mickey" haha. He is the only one I allow on my bed now.