I am really wanting to go over there just to try these out.
Lol, I think this article is more promotional than true.
I landed at Yokota Airbase in August 1969. I clearly remember driving down the streets through Yokohama and seeing men letting it all hang out and peeing in esplanades in the middle of divided streets in broad daylight.
On the road between cities, public restrooms were dual sex. Men up against the wall, women walking behind them and selecting a stall. The facilities were usually basically clean but not spotless.
Sewage in the streets was generally open in small, concrete lined trough like conduits. I surmised back then they were open so as to expedite cleaning or fixing blockages.
Rivers were typically called “binjo (sewer) ditches” by GI’s and were just filthy and corrupted and smelly because of thousands of sewers dumping into them. (This could be all cleaned up by now)
Now, inside Japanese personal residences the writer is absolutely correct as they were always spotless and you never went in them without taking your shoes off and I never went in my rented house without taking my shoes off.
I went in a lot of “Public Buildings” but never noticed anyone taking their shoes off.
The Japanese people are just the worlds greatest most sincere and attentive Hosts inside their homes. Socializing in a Japanese home is a lifetime memory.
All in all, the two years I spent there were the two best of my life and I often pinched myself back then to force myself to acknowledge that.
I’m looking forward to returning for two weeks (46 years later) this year with my daughter. Don’t go without going to Three Sisters Inn in Osaka and the Kyoto Palace in Osaka. Even two weeks is not enough to see Japan. Other ancient sites are just breathtaking.