Tuesday, 25 October 2016

Japanese Technology

Our hotel rooms have kettles which do not have escaping steam. The reason for these clever kettles is the smoke alarms are sensitive to steam. They would also be safer and less likely to cause steam burns.

We have seen a wide array of electronically controlled toilets. Some play a recording of running water, apparently because the Japanese are averse to the sounds that might otherwise come from toilets. The seats are generally heated and some cause water to run when you sit on the seat, but that really is a waste of water. There are many buttons and controls on some of the toilets but rarely any English explanation. The flush button or sensor is generally obvious but yesterday I was distracted at a public toilet and accidentally pushed the panic button instead of the flush button. An attendant came running (literally) so I was profuse in my apologies!

The hotel bathrooms have heated mirrors so they do not steam over. Controls for room lights can be complicated and take some experimenting to figure out which button turns off which light.

Many of the trains have USB connections or power points for charging phones and laptops. So far the wi-fi connections in our hotels have been much faster than anything at home.

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