I have discovered one of life’s simple pleasures – heated toilet seats.

I went to Japan last week for work and not much was what I had expected. Massive high-rise / skyscrapers, flashing neon signs in Japanese, a billion trillion people rushing to go somewhere really important in either smart business suits or bo-peep outfits, me feeling incredibly alienated and foreign – this was not the reality.

Admittedly I only saw a postage-stamp portion of Tokyo but in that, I can’t believe how at home and familiar it all felt. Quite surprisingly, the area reminded me of Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne combined into one. Brisbane, because much of Tokyo follows a river and there are some amazing bridges crossing over it; Sydney, because the pavements were made of the same slate, the people were smartly dressed and in about the same numbers and there was a large amount of greenery; Melbourne, because it had that same fresh chill and people were wearing similar coats and also for the Imperial Palace which I had a trip around in a taxi. This is like driving around Albert Park.

I’ve been told for a totally foreign environment that I should try Korea. That is one of my trips for early next year so I’m looking forward to that!

The lack of massively tall buildings was a surprise. Apparently these are relatively new to Tokyo as only now the technology has been developed to ensure they can withstand the earthquakes that sometimes hit. I hadn’t even considered that in my idea of what Tokyo would be.

I was very impressed by the cleanliness of it all. I was also impressed with the contents of the vending machines. Not only does my work supply heated toilets and ones that play a flushing sound before you actually flush, they also supply free vending machines. These machines have all manner of food and drink both hot and cold (even with ice). I tried a hot cherry flavoured drink. Sounds bizarre but is worth it.

I ate at some very nice restaurants and ordered by pointing. I’ve learnt the characters for pork, chicken and beef which does tend to make menu interpretation a little easier. We sat on the floor and the area under the table was hollowed away so we were actually sitting as though on a chair but the table is more at chest height. I’m still wondering who gets under the table to clean!

All the people I met were very helpful and incredibly polite. The best example of the politeness was when I sat down on the bus to go from the airport to the hotel. A pre-recorded voice announced that “portable telephones should not be used on the bus as they annoy your neighbours”.

I love Japan!

* Thanks to Queen for the title to this post.