Begin Japanology from a tidy perspective

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

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Thanks for the videos! Have only had time to watch a few minutes of the first one, but will settle in and view both tonight. This thread was of immediate interest as a friend's millennial daughter moved to Japan about six months ago.

Via FaceTime she described how they deal with trash, since there is almost no landfill available. Labels are removed from jars/cans, tied in little bundles and recycled; everything gets rinsed; nearly everything is recycled and that which can't be is burned.
 
Very interesting indeed.

Living in smaller spaces does necessitate the need to be tidy.
I liked the soda, soap, citric acid formula to clean the range burner grates.
Mine are large though, and go across the entire top of the range, so I steam clean them. Oils permeate cast iron.
 
The second video is even better, as it deals with Japanese home appliances including clothes washers. There is even a refrigerator with a vacuum drawer to help preserve foods. LOL, the marriage of a fridge and a vacuum cleaner, who would have thought it?

My own experience in Japan was that their laundry was very rough. I stayed in a hotel there for about two months, and the staff would take my socks and such and wash them. They'd come back clean but VERY stiff, and not from starch either. I'm told they used cold water only, which explains a lot. There was actually a little laundry room at the company factory we could use... it was unusual for Americans of the day (mid 1990's) because it was a top loader with a wash plate. The American engineers were fascinated by it. I just let the hotel wash my stuff ;-).

PS-The factory was owned by Matsushita, so any appliances there were either "National" or "Panasonic"...

Oh, and the one item I found in a hotel room that to this day I wish I could get here: It was a small hot plate, not much bigger than a cup warmer. But it was a little induction plate, with a magnetic stainless jug that held maybe a pint. You just filled the jug with water, put it on the plate, switched it on, and it would very rapidly come to a boil for tea. It would shut itself off as soon as it boiled. Very handy. I've yet to be able to find anything similar here, even searching on-line. Silly me, I bought a CD/Cassette/Radio boom box when I was there, but never thought to look for one of those induction cup boilers. I just assumed I'd be able to find one stateside.
 
Oh, and

the bullet trains Japan has! The USA has one. The Acella on the northeast corridor.
They are all over Europe, and even China.
I think Canada had the turbo trains for a while, along with NY state, and parts of new England back in the late 70's, early 80's. They tilted on curves.
 
I rode the bullet train between Osaka and Nagoya back in the 1990's.

It was an interesting experience. I remember getting to the Osaka station and finding the right platform. Soon a gleaming yellow train pulled in nearly silently. All the doors opened simultaneously, and out stepped young female attendants, two per door, and gracefully, as if choreographed, stood at attention beside each doorway. I was so taken back by the show I didn't realize this was MY train, and at the last moment I checked my watch, realized it was time, stepped forward and just barely got on the train. LOL.
 
If you go to the youtube site, you'll see there are plenty more episodes of Begin Japanology online there. There's one on their trains, as well as many other subjects. Others I've enjoyed include the show on food displays (the displays for restaurant windows which are very helpful in determining what to order), mochi rice (sweet rice kneaded into a confection), ramen, udon, unagi (eel), etc...

The Tidying and Appliance videos I think are flip sides of the same coin. The Yin and the Yang of Japanese culture: the penchant for tidiness and order, vs. the proliferation of clever devices that can overtake a home. How people deal - or don't deal - with this conundrum is fascinating.
 
WoW!

What higher education can achieve! A nation which experienced war on it's soil rose to the opportunity of all is possible.
See? Can't means won't.
The hobby shop in the video is awesome, and so are the layouts they show.
There are videos of Miniature Wonderland in Hamburg on youtube. It even has a functioning model airport in HO 1/87 scale.
I took up model railroading back in 1991 as a winter hobby. I guess I was feeling well accomplished in my career, and wanted to revisit my youth. I had one train set as a kid, handed down from my uncle. A Marx 027 gauge set he got for Christmas in 1946.
I have since gave it back to his grand children. I have plenty of Marklin trains from Germany.
Kato in Japan predominantley makes N scale 1/160 scale models, as they have smaller spaces for lay outs than here. They do make some HO scale American locomotives, and ho scale track.
I model in HO scale. My theme is Bavarian and European. I see American trains all day long driving. I have a German DB ICE 401, and an ICE 3, or 403, as well as a French TGV Atlantique, that's the blue and silver one, and a Lima orange TGV from Italy. They ran Paris- Lyon- etc. in the east of France. The Thalys red trains came later. Those have the Virgin logo on some. All are Alsthom designs.
Sweden has the X2000 tilting train, which the Amtrak Accella is based from.
Spain, and Switzerland use Siemens designed trains, like Germany, and similar ones in Italy today. China also uses the Siemens based trains.
Bombardier, and Siemens make most of the traction systems.
 
I do KonMari folding with our clothing. I love how much nicer our clothes drawers look, and how much more I can fit into a drawer with this method of folding. I did not get rid of any of my dish cloths and dish towels, and I was amazed at how what was an overstuffed drawer quickly became tidy and now has much more room in there.
 
You have good

patience Bobbi. I don't fold anything. It's out of the dryer and onto the hanger or into a drawer. T shirts, I could care if they are wrinkled a little. I go through socks so fast I don't bother bundling them together. I'm all about casual these days. I keep one formal suit ready to go in case of, well you know. More of those these days than weddings.
 
Vacerator - LOL! It's great to be that free and casual!
Folding this way just saves so much space in our drawers, and it does help to keep things organized, which I need to do a better job of.
 
Speaking of folding...

Anyone catch the recent Nova program on the use of origami techniques for high tech modeling? It's even being used to fold up things like space craft that can "blossom" in space after reaching orbit. The engineers really get into it, although I'm still not convinced of the utility of being able to fold a piece of paper into something that looks like a teapot from all angles.

But I do appreciate a well made umbrella...
 
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