I picked up 2 of my good friends at Narita airport last week. As soon as they arrived, they wanted to use the restrooms at the airport. Surely after a long flight from Canada that would be quite necessary I thought to myself. I waited 20minutes until they returned from the restrooms wondering if the airplane food had been terrible on their stomach so asked if they were alright. Their answer came back with 5-10 pictures on their digital camera of the toilet that they’d just used with all sorts of buttons for cleaning, wiping, deodorizing or even heating your bottom that they were so impressed with it that they couldn’t leave it alone for 20minutes. Not to mention they also looked all around Akihabara to take one with them back to Canada but couldn’t find a matching voltage. I was just glad that their stomach was alright.

There has been several incidents where certain guest house members bully other residents. There has been several incidents such as- turning off the computer continuously so others can’t use it, to waste their time, or can’t recharge their ipod’s battery while it’s connected to the computer; using the microwave at 6am with full sound for an hour to wake up others, never cleaning up or taking out the garbage, and always leaving the toilet seat up when there’s a female resident living there as well. These are very inconsiderate behaviours and bothers everyone living together. It creates tension and leads to arguments, house meetings with the landlord or even knife pullings. If everyone could be a little more considerate and respectful towards others life could be a lot simpler living in a guesthouse.

Last month I went to Palau island for 4nights/5days to get my advanced scuba diving license. Palau exceeded way over my expectations with it’s beautiful beaches, pure turqouise colour ocean, vast marine life, lush jungles, pretty waterfalls and most importantly with it’s friendly people. As a solo traveler I was a bit nervous as to how to fit into a tropical island full of honeymooners but the local people were so kind that I didn’t  feel lonely at all. Coming from Japan we are also very lucky right now with the exchange rate between the japanese yen and the us dollar so it was nice spending a little extra in Palau by getting a traditional chinese oil massage on the last day before a 7 hour flight. I went there to get an advanced diving license and I got it anway but it turned out to be a much more rewarding trip for me. I hope more people will travel to Palau and enjoy all the beautiful things this gorgeous island and it’s people has to offer.

Happy New Year to Everyone and may 2009 bring us lots of love, happiness, success and peace. Although everyone like to spend their new year’s eve in their own special way every year, this year I decided to do something a little different and went to Meiji Shrine with a good friend of mine at about 4am and luckily there was no line up so we walked right up to the front, prayed and walked around this beautiful shrine before we went home. I had always gone to Meiji Shrine during the day so it was first time for me to go there when it’s dark and it looked so nice with the new year decorations and lanterns that have bring so much warmth to the cold evening. I’m happy that I went there this year and started this year in a very spiritual way and prayed for peace. I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t tried it yet. Explore yet another beautiful side of Japan!