When you live in a foreign culture, there really is something you learn every day. In the case of Japan, even after 10 years I’m still learning things. I remember, it took me four years to realise that everyone was carrying a handkerchief to wipe their hands in the toilets, and that’s why often (probably less so now) there’s nothing to dry your hands.

Well today, I guess it’s not so much something I learned, rather something I realised, but Japanese meals are made of multiple dishes, at the least there’s typically rice, miso soup, and some sort of pickles or fish. Well, while thinking about how many dishes they used, I also thought about how it’s not standard to have a dishwasher. I guess Japanese people just love washing dishes too much! (Either that or they don’t have the space, but out here in the country, there is the space).