Those Japanese Toilets

Ah, sweet memories of Tokyo and Narita airport.

I had read about these new fangled toilets that have a button you press which sets off a fake flushing sound to cover the embarrassing real noises you might be emitting in the stall, but I never thought I'd get to use one. It was so exciting.

I'd never seen a toilet with so many gadgets. No. 1 for me was the fake flushing noise, which in my humble opinion, sounded indeed fake. It didn't sound like a real flush. I had to push it twice just to hear the sound.

No. 2 cool option was the built-in bidet which when I pressed the button set forth a very stimulating jet of water. That was super cool. The other option was more like a cool refreshing breeze, but the powerful water jet is, I think, what would have people coming back for more.

There was a 4th button but I can't remember what it was.

So on my return trip, when I got to Narita, I headed for a toilet only to be sadly disappointed. No fancy toilets in the satellite area of the airport. I was at Narita for over 5 hours so I visited a number of bathroom stalls and not one had the new toilets!

I was tempted to walk all the way over to Gates 76-77 where I KNEW the new toilet was located, but I was just too tired. It's a huge airport and that would've been a lot of walking. I just didn't have the energy.

So if you are ever in Narita with some time to kill and want a little fun, head to the ladies room near Gate 76-77 in the main terminal building. It's worth it.

Another fun little past-time is to ride the mini-rail between the main terminal and the satellite terminal. Just because.

Also, Narita is so fancy I felt totally inappropriately dressed for the airport. The duty free area with all the exclusive shops is huge. Like a small shopping mall. And it is so classy looking, I felt like it should have had a sign that said: "Dinner jacket required." Maybe it did in Japanese. I dunno. On the way over, there were two ladies handing out free sips of Chivas. Yo. I was too sick to take one, but free Chivas is not a bad thing at all in my book.

P.S. Another cool thing in the bathroom at Gate 76-77. You know how with most public sinks you just run your hand across and the water comes out? Well, in this bathroom, the soap works the same way. I put my hand under the little spigot looking for something to press and magically I had a handful of soap. It was unexpected and quite cool.