You gotta love this place...

Well we have been in Japan for just over 1 month now so it's about time we had a little celebration - by way of a "what we love and hate " list:

LOVE
-Vending machines; they are everywhere, even right next to the most sacred of shrines or temples. Buy a treat, pray,walk around, buy a treat, it's just what you do.

-Trains; so much faster than a car! I catch 2 a day and my station master and I are like best mates. You have 3options on them: sleep (and your head goes all over the place when you race around the bend, hahahahaha), watch TVon your cellphone or read. I'm the only one just looking at people.

-No rubbish; this is so true. I would honestly say I struggle to find any even when I'm looking for it. There isjust none. And even crazier....no rubbish bins! The cleanest place we've ever been.

-Old men and ladies; they nearly fall over with joy when you say something to them in Japanese. I walk past thesame old guy each day outside his rest home. He loves me like a son.

-Treats/Food; so many to pick from! some are wierd and totally disgusting but when you guess right, bingo!

-Gas water heating; why do we pay to heat our hot water in NZ when we don't use it???! GAS is the answer, pusha button and you have hot water, push it again and you don't. Small electric bills.

-Fans; electric fans. Right next to your bed. So good.

-Stag beetles; so much fun. Enough said.

-The cost of food; generally speaking things are cheap, very cheap. For example 500g of chicken costs roughly NZ$2-3!!! Strangely it's rice that is the most expensive thing!!!

-Western toilets; Wow. You can push a button and get a spray of water up your ass, when your done, flush it and there's a tap on top you wash your hands under. Water saver. Time saver.

-Dry clothes; you can wash something and put it out to dry at 10pm. Next morning wear it to work. Awesome!

- Japanese English; It's hilarious to walk around the streets seeing people wearing t-shirts they obviously have no idea what they actually say.... for example... a teacher came to my school wearing a t-shirt that said 'I devote my lifeto playing sex'. English signs can be a source of much laughter too!

HATE

-Banks; these cheeky buggers are never open when you need them, 10-3pm, I think they have the shortest working day of anyone(probably not) but they are closed when you need them, actually, it's not really the banks but their ATM's, or lackof. They open at 9am and close at 5pm, that's right...ATM's that close!!!!! That's ok, use your eftpos card to pay I hear you say! No chance. A strictly cash society. On pay day i'm sure there'd be millions of Yen in pockets all overtown.

-The heat; you sweat in the shower. It just doesn't let up.

-What I bought with me; why the hell did I bring 3 hoodies, 2 jerseys and a down jacket. I'd trade them all for a couple ofsinglets.

-The rubbish/recycling system; about 10 different categories. Headache.