High heels and talking toilets

After two weeks of Indian madness (in a good way!), we left for Japan. We knew it would be very different, but I still can't really believe that these two countries are on the same continent. Our impressed is that they differ in almost every way. I'll try to sum up our first impression. Japan is cold, actually. Very high tech, structured and clean. And people here are so polite that they hardly speak to you in case they bother you or make a mistake when they speak. Seing as we speak VERY limited Japanese there is little room for conversation.. After constantly being spoken to in India that is a big change. Luckily there are some brave Japanese students who stay at hostels, brave and english speaking. We've been living in hostels ever since we got here which has been awesome. We always meet a great bunch of people to share food, drinks and stories with. Pluss a lot of the people who travel around here study Japanese so they double as translators. Very handy!

We had a couple of days in Tokyo before we traveled west. It's a huge city, and it was kind of like I've always imagined New York to be. Tall buildings, masses of people, fancy shopping malls and cafes everywhere. All the people, girls espacially, are so made up many of them look like dolls. Sky high heels, short skirts, bows and dots and pretty coats and perfectly tamed hair. The guys usually wear suits or other fashinable outfits. Walking around in jeans and trainers makes us feel very scruffy!!

At the Shibuya crossing, green light!

 Toyko from above! We couldn't even see where the city ended..

This is at a mall called Shibuya 109, where the young and beautiful girls add to their (we're guessing) aready large selection of sugar sweet dresses and high heels. Everything was white, lace or candy colour.. We actually had to follow these to around for a bit, we couldn't believe our own eyes!!

The toilets here are a whole little chapter by themselves. The seats are warmed up, very appreciated in the cold spring they have going on. They have a bunch of different buttons, which include spray, air drying and flushing sound. Some even speak to you, what they'r trying to say still remains a mystery.. Again, slightly different from the "hole is the ground" toilets in India where toiletpaper was nowhere to be seen!

We've also tried some different types of local food with various outcomes. We've had sushi at the "go around restaurants", noodles in a lot a lot of different varieties, sake and even okonomiyaki - fried japanese pancake with cabbage, noodles, egg + a bunch of stuff I have no idea what it. There are also a lot of bakeries with all kinds of delicious bread and cakes. Yes please!!

The colour of the plate tells you the price, eat what you want as it passes you and pay after!

Having some chop stick difficulties as first, Sanna has become with the expert! ;)

Enjoying sizzeling hot okonomiyaki, Hiroshima style. Our favorite so far!!

Wonderful bakeries with real (as in not fluffy white) bread!

That is a little taste of Japan for you! By now we've activated our Japan Rail Passes which allows us unlimited travelling around for a week. So far we've visited Hiroshima, Kyoto and Fukuoka - tomorrow we leave for Beppu! There is much, much more to tell. Later! We're off early tomorrow to enjoy the hot springs and onsens of Beppu. Can't wait, it's been rainy and cold for several days now..