pee pants

in the states, there are many who will argue for, even kill for capitalism. i suppose it works well in many situations. however, i think an obvious downside is the constant need to update, change, and re-release a product that may have already worked well. in order to sell more, one will modify it, call it new, and it many cases render it useless. i think you'll all agree that this phenomenon is most prevalent in the urinal industry.

it's rather rare to find two restroom facilities equipped with identical pee receptacles. every once in a while you come across a urinal that works well, but in most cases, regardless of the attempted attack angle, you just get back-splash. i'd always dreamt of a magical porcelain structure, one in which all streams are deflected toward the drain rather than back on to my pants and feet.

then i moved to japan.

let me tell you, the facilities here are fantastic. i find myself chugging each and every liquid i can get my hands on in order to maximize water closet exploration opportunities. most of the urinals are of the long, deep variety, methodically engineered to promote pant dryness. i've yet to discover any troughs, and i'm thankfully hoping that the blunder never made it to this country.

but no, it doesn't stop there. the toilet seats are plugged in. to the wall. they have all sorts of buttons and gadgets on them which i can't yet read. they have little pictures though, and it looks like they serve some serious purposes which i won't discuss. most are heated. all toilets have a big (大) flush/small (小) flush option, even the one in the apartment! i haven't installed a heated seat yet due to economic factors, but the minute i find one second-hand, i'm hookin' it up.

to all those having a hard time imagining such a world, or just wondering how i got so lucky, you must come and visit.

now, some pitchers! none of restrooms yet, i'm working on it...

view of awaji island. this picture was taken quite a bit south of the flat, looking north to the akashi bridge (longest suspension bridge in the world). we might head to the island this weekend.

phonetically, this is pretty damn close.

random little temple near the hood.

view from the base of akashi bridge, looking toward awaji island.

this is the view of the island/bridge from closer to the spot.

himeji castle. we rocked the special rapid service train down there in about 40 minutes. didn't actually go in, figured we'd save that for some visitors. we walked around the outside though, held hands and discussed our feelings, 'neath the warmth of the sunshine, 'midst the blossoming cherries...

part of the castle. it really reminded me of playing tenchu stealth assassins. you get to run around on shit like this, then jump down and chop pussies heads off. kind of want to play it some more, but bro-han's got the piss-2.

walkin around the moat. huge carp in there.

view of awaji island at night, right near the spot. the green thing is a ferris wheel. suppose it's a park? maybe i'll find out this weekend.