Why the Japanese Shinkansen rocks!

Those who pop by often know this post is coming! Many people love the Shinkansen for its efficiency, cleanliness and amazing service and of course I can't knock them, how can you knock it when you have a window mid-train with a man inside, who checks that the train is lined up to the EXACT spot so the door opens in just the right place on the platform?

And some rave about the eki-ben, the special bento boxes that you buy at train stations - personally I'd rather have a sandwich! No, the best thing is the magazine, I don't see these on the Tokyo-Osaka trains very often but they always seem to be on the ones going to and from Tohoku. They have the best things advertised...

Need to rest you legs, how about a handy panda leg stool?

Or perhaps you need a cute doggy to light the path up for you when you get home from work...

I have to admit, the little Miss Organized in me loves this idea, the raised Japanese style tatami but with a load of storage space underneath, pretty clever!

Cold feet or hands, no worries...

I personally think that this idea is an accident waiting to happen HOT WATER BOTTLE SLIPPERS!!!!

Buy yourself a handy toilet and tent, might be useful at a festival so you don't need to use the stinky portaloo...

Right, you know those party blowers, you thought they were for making annoying noises at parties didn't you? Wrong, they are for strengthening your abs, no, really.....

Many Japanese don't have the crease in the eyelid like many Westerners do, this cream somehow gives you the sought after crease *mind boggles* there is a thriving trade in Korea when Japanese go for the eyelid cosmetic surgery...

And finally, this is one of the Japanese inventions I love. The kotatsu. Under the table top is a heater, so you pop your legs under the blanket and it's tasty and warm. In my first apartment here, which was build like a wooden shed and FREEZING, I had a kotatsu and a very stinky kerosene heater - that I couldn't use without opening the window! The kotatsu was a life saver, more than one night was spent sleeping under it because it was too cold to sleep in the futon.

Fab idea but you know what, central heating is better!