Even Suffering Separation Blues - You Gotta Eat (and Poop)

24th April, 2009 - I may have returned to Adelaide, leaving my loves in Sapporo (*sigh*), but thankfully, T-chan took some photos whilst I was away - and I'll share a few of them over the next few days. We'll start off with something that the  Japanese do very well. Cute. When I got an email at work from T-chan with these photos in I laughed out loud... and remembered why coffees in Japan can be so expensive (at least compared to Australia). Nothing like coffee art to start your day off with a smile. I know T-chan enjoyed.

These drinks came from Jimmy Brown's cafe near Odori in Sapporo. 

And as they say in the classics - what goes in, has gotta come out sometime....

And so we come to the inevitable and rightfully infamous Japanese toilet. Now this isn't the usual sort of glowing post about how wonderfully complex or comfortable Japanese toilets are (and how you need a manual to use some of them). It's not even a post about the Joys of Bidet function that can turn a quick pitstop into an afternoon out. No... that's all been done before. Instead, T-chan's eye was caught by a little something that we don't normally see over here in Australia. Can you guess? 

Look left.... no more left, and a little bit higher... you see that think that looks kinda like a mini toilet hanging from the wall. Guess what... it's a mini toilet hanging from the wall. Now if you picked it, then there's a good chance you're a parent. These portable toilet seat inserts are amazing - and T-chan was very impressed (as was I) that they were becoming common place now in a lot of (female) public toilets in Sapporo at least. They make taking children out for a day on the town so much easier (as anyone would surely agree who's had to perch their child precariously above over-sized toilets... hoping, nay praying not to get an itch, sneeze or otherwise find a reason to drop poor baby into the pooper). In the land of the high-tech, it's the low-tech solution that can often prove the most indispensable.

I never would have thought this morning that I'd end the day by writing a post about the loo. Life has many twists and turns.

Oh - and by the way... I do love Japanese toilets, even if I do sometimes get a little intimidated with the all the options. And in Japan, you just never know what could happen in the toilet.

Good ol' Japanese prank shows. Always going with the high-brow humour.