Day 3: Comments

Being in a new place and culture means there are endless things to take note of as i go throughout the day. Here are a few thoughts on these things:

Japanese Toilets:

I know my mom was worried about the japanese toilet. they are built right into the ground so  you squat over them. at first i thought, why? do the japanese not appreciate sitting on a  toilet seat.  but really i think i like these toilets. unlike the western style toilet that you will be forced to awkwardly squat over when it  is dirty (or lacking a seat as was the case at my university in Buenos Aires), it is much more pleasant to do this over a japanese toilet.  AND i do believe the japanese more than appreciate sitting on a toilet seat since they have decided to automate  their western style toilets. complete with heated seats---this is definitely my favorite thing about them!

Art & Design:

I  love everything about the look and feel of japan. i do not know why i never realized i HAD to come to japan because i have always always always loved the japanese style (even if it was only from miyazaki films and japan town). i love the buildings, i love the art, i love the sliding doors and tatami floors, i love the flag-like curtains that cover entry ways, i love finding little fish swimming in empty  flower pots outside doorways. i love all the stationary with little cats on it. i love how every food item is served in a different little bowl. i love eating with chopsticks and sipping soup from the bowl. i love sleeping on the floor (although i am totally over sitting on the floor and am so happy to be sitting in a chair at a table right now. even my 23 year old knees and hips and legs were tired and aching from sitting on the floor at my last guesthouse).

Breakfast:
This morning I had a traditional Japanese breakfast at my guesthouse. This was my second official breakfast on this trip. The one before occured at Kyoto Station. I entered and they handed me a menu with only american breakfast options even tho others were eating a japanese breakfast. i should  have pointed and insisted on that. instead i was served the saltiest scrambled eggs served with ketchup and the HUGEST　butteriest texas toast. while i wasn:t thrilled by this, i am thrilled they eat breakfast in japan. The Argentians DO  NOT believe in breakfast, unless you consider 2 cups of coffee a meal. I remember my host sister holding her stomach and making a sick looking face when she thought of how much food we americans like to consume at breakfast: "how can you start the day that way?!?!" she exclaimed, and said something about how terrible it would be to walk around so heavy in the morning. I would counter: "how do you go to sleep with your stomach so heavy?!?!" (we ate dinner around 10pm, many families eat later).

But back to my Japanese breakfast. About 8 different little bowls sat in front of me, i wish i had a picture. i was so happy to see a bowl of plain rice and miso soup. a small bowl had some sickeningly sticky looking soy beans..no thanks. another held cold spinach (which i ate for good measure). another  some sticky walmuts for the ricem yummm. and cooking on a little open pit fire to my right were too small fish. one for me and one for my floor-mate. i had been smelling my fish since i woke up. i gave him (the fish) a quick glane and tried not too think about having to eat him. i was afraid i would  lose my appettite for the whole meal. it reminded me of the smell of  the dried anchoves i used to buy for my neighbors cat.

finally he was served to me. i let him sit for awhile. i call this fish "him" because he had a head and a face. i went for it, very happy when i discovered this tiny  little fish really didn:t have much to eat. while eating this little fish with my chopsticks i thought: all meat should come with a head on it. if all meat came with a head on it, i would have no problem becoming a vegetarian. i will say that i have had qualms at different times in my life about eating meat. while i eat meat now and although i now aspire to be a vegetarian for reasons that have less to do with the animals themselves, i have never, never had any qualms with eating a fish until this morning. looking at my little fish, stomach empty, spinal column dangling out of its body. a sad sight...