Two days in Tokyo...

I've been in Tokyo for about a couple of days, and I haven't seen much of it yet. Spent most of my time in restaurants, my hotel room and in various Panasonic showcase centres . It's been pretty pleasant, so far - thanks to a couple of things:

1. The Food
Well, the food's been excellent, really. I've eaten my fair share of Japanese food in KL but the stuff here is really excellent.


The sushi is ultra fresh and tastes rather good - full of flavour, without relying on gimmicky sauces or garnishing ala Genki Sushi. Even basic stuff like egg(tamago), tuna (maguro) and crab (kani )sushi tastes amazing. And bloody hell, they actually use real crab meat - not the artificial crab sticks you get back home.

But that was last night's dinner. Just now, our hosts gave us a nice 7- or 8-course Japanese dinner (can't remember exactly). Ate enough sashimi to make myself sick and had possibly the second best grilled salmon I've ever tasted.

Yum...!


The beer's good too. You can get Yebisu in Malaysia in some supermarkets (try Jusco) and restaurants. I highly recommend it - it's a 100% malt beer made from "Bayern aroma hops". Yes, it even tastes like German Weissbier. Eeeeexcellent...

2. The Hotel room

Ok, us journalists are often sent to nice hotels whenever we go on overseas assignments. This one's no different, with a huge bed, a well-equipped bathroom and other niceties...

Me in my home for the next 1.5 days


You can even see Tokyo Tower from the window.

However, this hotel's miles better than any of the other ones I've stayed in - thanks to one thing: The toilet.


Yes, it's one of those magnificent densetsu no (legendary) Japanese bogs that not only wash your arse, but have heated seats too! If I could take a shit on one of these things every morning, I'd be late for work EVERY DAY. Hell, I'd actually take my time to read The Star!



Here's a close-up shot of the control panel - the blue button says 'Backside' and the red one says 'Bidet' (for washing a woman's fiddly bits). The two smaller buttons below them toggle the movement of the nozzle (on/off) while the knob to the right controls the water pressure.

If you don't know how these work, a little nozzle appears from below (when you push the buttons) and sprays a jet of warm water all over your orifices. It's a very nice sensation, and I'm sure it does a good job of cleaning up.

Why in God's name can't you find these superb devices out of Japan is beyond me. This is possibly the greatest invention in the history of mankind since the electric shaver.

I'll have more updates once I find the time. Meanwhile, I've gotta go to the toilet. Really.