It's the little things in life that make the transition from Tokyo to Berlin more enjoyable.
Thick, soft toilet paper. Yes, you did read that correctly! Japan may well be known for its fancy toilets (or not) but the toilet paper left a lot to be desired. It was thin and white. That was it. The first time Rhiannon saw coloured loo roll she was amazed.
Here we can choose thick, super-thick or so-thick-it's-no-longer-soft-but-a-bit-like-cardboard. And it has patterns on, dolphins and feathers so far. Like I say, it's the little things!
Basically, I'm trying to focus on the positives.
Something else that pleases me a great deal is the delicious bread here. I love hot buttered toast and have indulged a lot since I arrived. Bread in Japan was, quite frankly, weird.
And then this arrived!
It's a Japanese "kettle"
It took a long time to find one of these Zojirushi water boilers that work in Europe. The electricity in Japan is 100 volts - it would take a week to boil a normal kettle - so we had one of these and never looked back. You just push a couple of buttons and instant boiling water. For a tea addict like me, this is a must-have piece of equipment. Oh, and it plays a little tune when the water has boiled -Bach's Minuet in G major. Cute!
I managed to track one down that's been converted for use in Europe through this site; all we needed to do was attach a plug converter.
Tea on tap. Heaven!