Struggling with the technology

1. The first purchase for our apartment was futon bases. We bought the bases, which are thin pieces of foam covered by sheeting. We slept on the damned things for about 5 nights, thinking hmmm, the Japanese are hardy characters, and hoping we'd get used to how hard they were, before we were informed that, in fact, the futon bases required actual futons to be put on top of them.

2. We have, in our apartment, a bath called a "furo" (strictly speaking o-furo - oh very honourable bath) Its about one metre squared and you are supposed to soak upright in it after you've scrubbed yourself to the consistency of a raw prawn outside of it. Japanese people spend up to an hour in the bath, citing it as a religious experience.

One night, Matt and I fired up the furo. We knew it would take a bit of time to heat up, so we left it and returned to our game of scrabble and sake. When we went back to it, the water was bubbling and we thought hey cool, its like a spa bath! Only then did we realize the water was boiling. We had a bath full of boiling water which took another hour of pouring cold water on it before it was remotely bearable to immerse our bodies into. I spent 5 minutes in it before God told me to get the hell out before I fainted of heat exhaustion.