Please Help Me Pee

As I began to ponder on what I should write about today, I realized that I have not informed you of some of the differences between the States and Japan. Granted that some of them seem to be implicit with the recounting of my days, but there is still so much more to truly inform you about. For this reason, I will share with you today one puzzling difference I had noticed as an oddity only 1 month ago. For a bit of a prologue, I will like to inform you that Japan is really not that wheelchair friendly. I hope that this is only the case because it is a bit more old than the rest of Japan. However, every public building in Japan (this includes transportation hubs) has bright yellow grooves or bumps on the floor to lead the blind from certain entrances to the places they need to go in the building. There is no Braille signage indicating where it is that they are going to or supposed to be going to, but the grooves are still there. Perhaps, the blind are genetically encoded or something to know these things inherently. I obviously do not know or understand. However, I found this puzzling considering I have yet to see one single blind person in Japan, but I have seen so many wheelchair-bound people struggling to get somewhere (particularly when they are passing over the bright yellow grooves on the floor). I hope that you do not find this distressing or rude. You will be happy to know that although the Japanese do not have a handicap stall in the restroom, they do provide a handicapped equipped urinal. Now, thankfully, I have never had to help a disabled person to the handrails that protrude about 2 feet from the wall about 4 feet from the ground to assist them in urinating in what would probably be the most difficult place to do it considering their condition, but I guess the Japanese just enjoy a challenge.

Since coming home, nothing too exciting has happened. I am simply watching movies that I bought while traveling and complaining at how cold it is. Cristina and I did see The Incredibles which I will have to say is a great film. I think it is definitely one step above the other Pixar films in originality. Last night, we went over to Kaz’s where we enjoyed a very hearty meal accompanied by Laura, Jill and Dan (ALT from Kihoku) and Mike (from Aira, where Cristina and I went to the tea ceremony). It turned out to be a very interesting and funny evening. Later that night, Cristina and I watched Super Size Me, the documentary about a man who chose to go on a 30-day McDonald’s-only diet. It was also very good and is recommended by me. Speaking of being super-sized, in case you were wondering, I have yet to begin my “marathon training”. Something tells me I may have to bump down to a 5K. By the way, I have come to realize I am a Nutella junkie.