Japanese toilets

Having been here for a month I think I've seen quite something when we're talking about toilets. Now of course you'd think, why would anyone dedicate a whole story to toilets.. A toilet is a toilet right.. Well here it is and you can see for yourself if it sounds familiar or not.

When I went to the Juyoh hotel I had this nice fancy toilet which you often find in Japan, with a toilet shower and all. I felt so happy, because trust me you'll feel extra happy and clean :P
Unfortunately we don't have such a superior toilet in the Ihouse even though even this one has something special!

The toilet in the Ihouse has a small washin basin above the place where the water goes in, so you can flush again. So the funny thing is, when you flush you can actually wash your hands straight away in that little sink-like place without spilliing any water, because the water is used to flush afterwards. I think it's a very good concept actually!
Even so I still prefer the high-tech toilet!!

All the toilets are so different and even flushing is hardly ever the same. I've come across toilets with leverages, buttos, an automatic flush system or the one where you have to put your hand in front of a panel.. Sometimes you spend over a minute trying to figure out how to flush the damn thing, because it's like a whole new experience every single time..

Apart from that even the sinks work different and at school Gia and I spend minutes trying to figure out how we could get some soap out of the dispenser ending up opening lid and getting it out that way, only to find out later that we actually just had to push our and upwards instead of whatever we were trying.. There are also soap dispensers that work automatically, but in the beginning even that was difficult.. I know believe it or not, but you have to kind of tilt your hand for it to come out and of course you start waving, pushing and trying to find the button before finding out how to get it out. Once you get used to the system it's so perfect though!!!

I'm totally used to it now and I actually prefer going to the toilet at the station on the way to my school, becausse everything works automatically and you don't have to touch anything dirty! The only drawback is the absence of something to dry your hands with, which is pretty common in Japan, but I learned that quickly enough, so I always have a handkerchief in my bag.

I guess it's time for my extremely stupid experience now :P So I went to the toilet at school, in the 6th building for the first time. And I wanted to flush and saw this tempting orange button. All of a sudden there was this strange alarm-like sound. I panicked and asked IN JAPANESE what it was, but everyone was looking at me as if I came from a different planet, not saying anything.. I freaked out and didn't know what to do, especially, because my class was about to start.. I ran to the hallway and saw this person that looked like he was the one who responded to the alarm and told him that I was the culprit. He laughed and asked me which one it was.. I pointed the toilet out and he asked me to be careful next time.. I was so ashamed ><

The funniest experience was with Gia when we went to a nomihodai (We could drink and eat all we wanted for a set price) We went to the toilet together and there was this mouthwash, so we were totally amazed that it was there and of course we wanted to use it just because it was there (hihi) I felt so happy all of a sudden and because of they were playing jazz music I started to act weird and we ended up dancing in the toilet :P I don't know what got in to us, let's just say that it just happened.. We laughed about the thought that there might be cameras, but we decided it would be to weird to hang cameras in the bathroom, but it is Japan... You never know :P