BIG BRAINS AND LOOSE CHANGE -JAPAN JOURNEY

We had a sumptuous breakfast at the hotel and started for Nara. On the way I was observing the clean roads, and cars, which were quite unobtrusive and not flashy, and people passing by. There was no honking of cars whatsoever, and I could see a steady flow of buses providing public transport at regular intervals.

We arrived at the Todaiji temple, considered the most influential Buddhist temple in Japan, especially after surviving multiple earthquakes, fires, and political chaos.

We could see a lot of school buses letting out a lot of cheerful school children, as we had gone to Japan in July, which was a vacation time for schools, everywhere we went, we could see many school children on their picnics
The basic school system in Japan is composed of elementary school (six years), middle school (three years), high school (three years), and university (four years). Education is compulsory only for the nine years of elementary and middle school; however 98.8% of students go on to high school.

I discovered that the education system in Japan was rather unique; apart from mandatory education, the children were also getting trained in ethics, culture, and hygiene, and I felt this definitely leads to a good upbringing.

Our interactions with many children of various ages during our trip to Japan showed very well-mannered children displaying respect to the elders and an open, positive reaction to other races; they enjoyed interacting with us and asked us a few questions about India and its schools. I observed that the girls and boys were mixing in a friendly manner without any gender bias.
Japanese schools give each student individual numbers that consist of 4 figures. The first two figures are the number of a class, and the last two are the personal numbers, which are assigned to each student. These numbers are used for library cards, bicycle stickers or for classwork or tests
A student, despite not doing well in exams, is not failed and is promoted to the next class; results of tests matter only when the student has to enter high school or university. As a medical teacher, I felt that this would encourage the slow learners or less intelligent students also to continue their studies and not drop out of school or go into depression and commit suicide.
Each school has its own uniform, both summer and winter versions. Children can wear only white, black, or dark blue socks. If a student wears any other color, these socks are promptly seized.
School bags are given to students along with the uniforms.

Boys are restricted from growing long hair, and girls do not have painted nails, colored and curly hair, jewellery, or makeup. As a result of this uniformity, I found that the kids in uniforms were very much alike, with no obvious class differences.
In Japan, all students have to leave their shoes outside the classroom in their lockers provided and have to wear the same indoor shoes or slippers called "uwabaki" inside the classroom to maintain cleanliness in the classrooms.

Each school has a nutritionist who monitors diet charts of students and creates a menu for every meal. As a rule, there is no cafeteria inside a school, and students have to eat what is served; lunch boxes from home are allowed on special occasions. It is interesting to note that teachers eat with pupils in the classrooms themselves; this will surely develop more understanding between teachers and students.

The academic year in Japan starts in April; the next vacation begins at the end of July or in August, as these months are very stuffy due to high humidity. There is a short vacation from the last week of December to the first week of January.
Japanese schools do not use any cleaning services or janitors. The students clean their classroom themselves, as well as the toilets. The work is shared by staff and even the vice principal and principal of the school.

Japan has most of its schools teaching in the Japanese language, and international schools are very few, unfortunately.
Special private schools that offer advanced and supplementary lessons for students who want to achieve high grades and pass entrance examinations exist, and these are known as "cram schools" and are very much in demand.
As we were waiting for our guide to get us the entrance tickets, I was keenly observing the school children; they were all looking very excited and were busy buying snacks and drinks from the vending machines.

Japan has around 5.5 million vending machines, with one on almost every street corner. There are vending machines that sell beer, water, hot and cold canned coffee, cigarettes, wine, comic books, hot dogs, light bulbs, bags of rice, toilet paper, umbrellas, fish bait, and fresh eggs.

Snacks, flowers, porn magazines, condoms and even women’s underwear are available for sale.

I felt that vending machines make a good and convenient way for the companies to sell beverages and make money without paying staff.
We found these vending machines everywhere we visited, and we tried to buy some cold coffee and hot tea at the same time and successfully got them both, one hot and steaming and the other chilled.

SUSHI AND NOODLES -JAPAN JOURNEY

I looked out of our hotel window and could see a lot of shops, malls and a high-tech gym with people busy sweating out.
Tully's Hand Drip Coffee Shop was in the basement of the hotel, wafting out divine coffee smells.

In the evening we went out for a stroll and had a look at the goods being sold in the convenience stores,

There were a lot of kitchen articles, very useful ones, and we were told that the Japanese never compromise on quality, though pricing may be a little high.

But my thrifty middle-class mind spontaneously converts the foreign currency into Indian money, and goods appear very expensive, and moreover, our watchful heavy suitcases warn us not to burden them any more.

Dinner we had at an Indian restaurant Zaffran

Most of the restaurants in Japan have Indian owners , cooks and waiters were Indians, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis.

In New Zealand, while on tour, we were searching desperately for Indian food. When we finally found one, we went and settled down there; the entire décor was very Indianish, the food was fantastic but owner was a Bangladeshi, the cook was a Sri Lankan, and the waitress was a pretty 6-footer Russian girl, LOL !
As promised when we were booking the trip, SOTC gave us good Indian food, and the timings were strictly adhered to, though at times we felt so stuffed with food that we couldn’t eat any more
Just adjacent to the lobby, we had the restaurant with an airy dining room; there was a breakfast buffet (free for children up to 6) from 6.30 to 10 am.

We had to give the slip given with each room key to the person at the front table in the restaurant who would greet us with “irasshaimase”, which meant “welcome, and please come in.” Our slip would be placed on an empty table, and we could go and sit there; this was all done effortlessly and with utmost courtesy.

In the morning during breakfast, we would see smartly dressed young ladies and men have their breakfast in the restaurant and briskly go on their way, probably to their meetings and offices. One more thing we observed in Japan was the cell phone etiquette: people would talk very briefly and quietly into their phones , not wash their dirty linen in public like in some countries.

Almost all lunches and dinners were arranged in Indian restaurants, whereas breakfast we had in the hotels we stayed in. Food becomes an issue when we travel out of the country. We found that we could tolerate all types of local cuisine when we were young , once we reached 60 and became senior citizens, our taste buds started yearning for Indian food, and that was the main reason for us to book with a travel agency with Indians. Luckily, because it was not a tourist season, we were a small group, and it was a comfortable tour .
The buffet used to have both a Japanese and continental menu safe bet while having breakfast would be plenty of soup, salads, eggs, yoghurt, brownies, fruits, and desserts.The restaurants in Japan have different soups and a choice of fresh salads and eggs either boiled or in form of omelettes.

Normally I am fond of trying the local cuisine but am however,  wary of meats other than chicken and mutton. Most of the restaurants in Japan had the item cards displayed.

Japanese are fond of rice, noodles, vegetables, fish such as salmon and mackerel, green tea, and fruits like tangerines, persimmons, and Fuji grapes. Potato chips are the usual favorites.

Japanese personifies sushi as a dish of rice seasoned with vinegar, with some sugar and salt, accompanying a variety of ingredients, such as seafood, often raw, vegetables, and occasionally tropical fruits.

Till I visited Japan, I was confused about sushi and sashimi, which is similar to sushi but without the rice; it is raw fish sliced into easy-to-eat pieces.

The high quality of the fish caught in all regions of Japan makes it a great choice, but as a pathologist, I had my doubts about whether eating the raw fish would give rise to parasitic infestations. Our guide assured us that flash freezing and the use of vinegar make it safe to consume raw fish.
Some of the most common and popular varieties of fish are maguro and other tuna varieties, salmon, mackerel, and sea bream. Sashimi is typically eaten with soy sauce for flavouring.
Unagi, or eel, is a river fish. In Japan, it is a delicacy typical in high-class Japanese dining. At Unagi restaurants, one can enjoy Kabayaki, where the Unagi is put on skewers and grilled with a special sauce containing soy sauce, mirin, sugar, and sake. Unagi is also considered a health food to prevent summer heat weariness because of its protein and because it is good for digestion.

In South India too, we relish eating a small fish like the eel we call nethalu, which is used in fries.
Unadon, a dish of kabayaki on top of white rice, is also offered at restaurants.

Hitsumabushi, a specialty dish from Nagoya, is another must-try traditional dish as cut-up kabayaki on top of white rice, but it can be eaten in several ways, such as with condiments like green onion and wasabi, or as Ochazuke by pouring warm green tea or broth over it.
Tempura is a dish involving ingredients like seafood, meat, and vegetables covered in batter and deep-fried in oil. The batter usually contains flour and egg.

Throughout our trip in Japan, we relished Tempura because it was very similar in taste to fish and chips we used to eat in Australia and New Zealand. Tempura is generally dipped in a special sauce called tentsuyu before eating.
It is said that the Japanese are so fond of fish that they eat more than 17 million tons of fish per year
Tsukiji Market in Tokyo is the world’s largest fish market, handling over 2,000 tons of marine products daily.[
Buddhist laws passed in the 7th century prohibited Japanese from eating meat; only birds and fish were allowed, but in the 19th century, the Meiji emperor himself broke the taboo and ate meat.
Soba is a noodle dish made from buckwheat flour with water and flour, thinly spread and cut into noodles 1 to 2 cm in size. After boiling the noodles in hot water, it is eaten dipped in cold soup, or by pouring hot soup over it. Soba is enjoyed hot or cold, making it an ideal dish year-round.

Udon is a unique, popular, and traditional dish known for its thick noodles. The dough is made from flour and saltwater that is well-kneaded and cut into noodles. After being boiled in hot water, it is eaten in seafood broth soup, or by pouring soup and toppings like tempura on top of it.

We tried onigiri, or rice balls, which may just look like plain rice, but they often have a savoury filling inside and are wrapped with a salty sheet of nori seaweed. They are seen sold in convenience stores and supermarkets.

Yakitori is a popular food where chicken is cut into small pieces, then placed on bamboo skewers and grilled.It reminded us of our exotic varieties of kababs.

Sukiyaki is a one-pot wholesome dish cooked in a shallow iron pan, traditionally enjoyed in the fall and winter in Japan, and is made with several different ingredients, like thin slices of beef, green onion, mushrooms, tofu, and noodles.
We relished the Miso soup, another famous Japanese food, renowned for its great taste and health benefits. It is made of a fermented miso base and has a good flavor.

Sake is an alcoholic drink made from fermented rice, koji mold, and yeast; it is very popular all over Japan and is served at all types of restaurants and bars. One of our tour members ordered it in a restaurant and pronounced that it was good.

Japanese love Kit Kat candy bars, which come in many unusual flavours like grilled corn, Camembert cheese, Earl Grey tea, grape, and wasabi.

We observed that it was appropriate to slurp noodles, especially the soba (buckwheat), when eating in Japan. Slurping indicates that the dish is delicious. It also obviously cools down the hot noodles.
More than 5 billion servings of instant Ramen noodles are consumed in Japan each year. Chef Momofuku Ando invented the first instant “chicken Ramen” in 1958.
Astonishingly, Japan has more than 3,000 McDonald’s restaurants, the largest number in any country outside the U.S.

OSAKA BATH ROOM LUXURIES -JAPAN JOURNEY

Finally we reached Shin-Osaka Esaka Tokyu REI Hotel.

Whenever we travel anywhere in India or abroad, I sincerely try to travel very light but somehow end up lugging heavy suitcases, which become heavier day by day with what little things we buy, as we tend to mostly do window shopping.

When we went to New Zealand, we found many Australian couples on tour, breezing around happily with dainty suitcases. One fine day to satisfy my mounting curiosity, I asked one of them as to what they were doing with their abundant purchases, and she said they were sending everything home by post, but for us this would cost more than our shopping expenses, so I didn’t even dare to suggest it to my husband.

On reaching the hotel, from the van we had to lug our suitcases to the hotel, which had a display board.

We found, to our surprise, many shops and stalls.

We could finally access our hotel via an escalator, which was on the first floor.

The lobby area was very spacious but had very little seating.

There was a money exchange machine in the lobby and a newspaper vending machine too.

The front desk staff was very courteous, and with the help of our guide’s translational skills, we took our room keys and went to our rooms.

As this was our first hotel in Japan and the country was supposed to be thickly populated, I was curious about our room and its facilities .

The room was of average size; usual standard toiletries to meet our needs were kept in large containers and were of a very good quality.

The beds were placed at a lower level, were clean, and were very firm and comfortable with a ''wheat" pillow.

Drinks and snacks vending machines could be seen in each floor.

There were ice machines too.

The bathroom area was made up of two parts—the powder room and the toilet area—with individual doors.

The toilets in Japan need a special mention. The word "toire" is an abbreviated form of "toilet," and the plain word for "toilet" is "benjo," a place of convenience or place of excrement.

There are two styles of toilets commonly found in Japan; the oldest type is a simple squat toilet, which is still common in public places.

The current state of the art of western-type toilets is the bidet type, commonly called washlets, and includes many advanced features.

After World War II, modern Western-type flush toilets became common in Japan.
The feature set commonly found on washlets is anal hygiene, bidet washing, seat warming, and deodorization.

Japanese toilets are well known in popular culture and often parodied in comedic works set in Japan.

While our toilet looked like a Western-style toilet at first glance, there were numerous additional features such as a blow dryer, seat heating, massage options, water jet adjustments, automatic lid opening, and automatic flushing. 

Generally these features are accessed by a control panel attached to the seat or mounted on a nearby wall.

The most basic feature is the integrated bidet, a nozzle the size of a pencil that comes out from underneath the toilet seat and squirts water.

It has two settings: one for washing the anus and one for the bidet. The former is called posterior wash, general use, or family cleaning, and the latter is known as feminine cleaning, feminine wash, or simply bidet.

At no point does the nozzle actually touch the body of the user. The nozzle is also self-cleaning and cleans itself before and after operation. The user can select to wash the anus or vulva by pressing the corresponding button on the control panel.

Usually the same nozzle is used for both operations, but at a different position of the nozzle head, and using different openings in the nozzle to squirt water at a different angle to aim for the correct spot. Occasionally, two nozzles are used, each dedicated for one area. The control logic is also attached to a pressure switch or a proximity sensor in the toilet seat and operates only when the seat is occupied.

Most high-tech toilets allow water temperature and water pressure to be adjusted to match the preferences of the user. By default, the vulva receives less pressure than the anus. Researchers in Japan have found that most users prefer a water temperature slightly above body temperature, with 38 °C considered optimal.

The nozzle position can also often be manually adjusted forward or aft. High-end wash lets you select vibrating and pulsating jets of water, claimed by manufacturers to be beneficial for constipation and hemorrhoids, otherwise known as piles.

The most advanced washlet can mix the water jet with soap for an improved cleaning process.

Another frequent feature is a blow dryer, often adjustable between 40°C and 60°C, used to dry the washed areas.

Other features may include a heated seat, especially useful in cold weather, an automatic lid equipped with a proximity sensor, which opens and closes based on the location of the user, and an air dryer and deodorizer. Some play music to relax the user's sphincter. 

Recently, researchers have added medical sensors into these toilets, which can measure the blood sugar based on the urine and also measure the pulse, blood pressure, and body fat content of the user.

In Japanese culture, there is a tendency to separate areas into  clean  and  unclean, and the contact between these areas is minimized. The inside of the house is considered a clean area, whereas the outside of the house is considered unclean.

To keep the two areas separated, shoes are taken off before entering the house so that the unclean shoes do not touch the clean area inside of the house. Historically, toilets were located outside of the house, a feature that was very common in India too previously, and shoes were worn for a trip to the toilet.

Nowadays, the toilet is almost always inside the home, and hygienic conditions have improved significantly, but the toilet is still considered an unclean area in Japan.

To minimize contact between the unclean toilet floor and the clean floor in the rest of the house, many private homes and also some public toilets have toilet slippers in front of the toilet door that should be used when in the toilet and removed immediately after leaving the toilet.

Both the sink, toilet, and bath are in separate rooms. The sink is usually in a small changing area connected to the bathroom that also has the washing machine, while the toilet is completely separate.

Ofuro is an important part of the lifestyle of the Japanese, who after a long day's work come home looking forward to relaxing and warming themselves in wooden bathtubs.

This ritual, which does not seek to cleanse the body but the mind, was already put into practice by the Egyptians, who 5,000 years ago had discovered the benefits of this type of bathing.

In Japan, baths are normally taken in three different places: the Ofuro (own house), the Sento (Japanese communal baths), and the Onsen (Japanese hot springs).

Ofuro is the most common form of bathing in Japan, as more Japanese can afford to have a bathtub at home.

In Japan, families bathe in order. The eldest and male members go first. In a typical family, the order would be first the grandfather, then the father, the son, the grandmother, the mother, and lastly, the daughter.

In the bathing area there is a shower hose or a bucket of water with which to rinse. On the bathroom floor, next to the bathtub, there is usually a stool where one can sit down to lather their hair and body. And then, only when they have rinsed their whole body can they enter the bathtub.

It is essential to wash thoroughly before entering the bath, as this is where all members of the family bathe and must be kept clean.

Modern Ofuro bathtubs have temperature control.

Their design is rectangular, and they measure about 60 to 70 cm and are deeper than western bathtubs.

The water in the Ofuro is usually around 40 degrees. This high temperature helps the body relax and keep warm, and this is why they normally bathe before going to bed, as they believe it helps fall asleep and removes the stress from the body.

Since the new bathtubs have a temperature control, it helps save water, as it can be kept warm. Depending on its use, water can be reused for days. In large families, where parents and children take daily baths, the baths are usually refilled once or twice a week.

The Japanese are extremely conscious of wasting water and use an innovative system to recycle the water they discard from their bathtubs. After the water is no longer useful for their baths, they connect their tubs to a washing machine and use this water to wash their clothes.

Our bathroom had a control panel that needed a lot of figuring out; there were buttons for keeping the bath water at a consistent temperature and temperature selection for the showerheads too, as well as a multitude of other functions.

In residential houses these panels exist in the kitchen too so that one can control the bath from the kitchen.

Modern, hi-tech bathrooms have different fan settings, which include cold and hot air, so clothes dry really quickly if one hangs them up in the bathroom and put the fan on.