Commode-Love, Earth Movements, and More

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We have, like many travelers to Japan before us, fallen in love with our toilet.

It keeps us warm. It washes us. It greets us when we enter the room by raising its seat. It even has a nightlight that goes on automatically when you stumble in through the dark at 2am.

The Japanese think of everything. They should rule the world. I hope they invade us again. Soon.

Andy has returned. This is a good thing.

We wander the city with its spitshined sidewalks. We are only a mile from Tsujiki fish market, the clearing house of all of the world's sushi. It doesn't get any fresher than this. We stop in a sushi bar under the railroad tracks. We order eel. It is the best eel we have ever had. We order salmon sushi. Again, it is the best salmon sushi we have ever had. It costs a dollar a piece. We are getting carried away now. We order sea urchin--even though we hate sea urchin--and it's sublime. We get even more carried away and order fried whale. This is a bad thing. One should not eat whales. It never comes anyhow because our Japanese sucks. So we end up not feeling as bad as we would've felt. I bet it would've been the best fried whale in the world.

The trip is coming to the end. 88 days we've been going. Today we'll hop on a plane and head home. Andy will of course be heading in the opposite direction. Perpetually moving, that one. He is bound for Sri Lanka this time. Then Australia. Singapore. Vietnam. Cambodia. All in about 10 days. He is most certainly CIA.

(Wow...in our hotel on the 24th floor as I write this...and an earthquake just hit. The entire building is shaking. Yikes. Ending the trip with a bang...need to get out of this country, somewhere safe from earthquakes, like, oh, say, San Francisco...)

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Photos

Our Friend
The toilet! So many options!

Long Way Down
Our perspective on the earthquake...