The long-anticipated Asian solar eclipse was a bit of a wash-out. The band of totality started west of India and ran through China before passing over the southern Japanese islands and petering out in the Pacific. Many people had paid a lot of money to cram onto the small islands for the spectacle, but it was very overcast. They did get to see the sun disappear through the clouds, and experienced the eerie darkness fall though. In Tokyo you wouldn't have had an inkling it was going on though the sun was about 75% obscured. We had gone to meet Nick for lunch and timed our arrival to the moment of fullest eclipse, but we stared up at the grey sky in vain trying to decide if it was just a tad darker.
Again it was relatively cool, being only mid-20s; a couple of degrees warmer than the 22C of yesterday, but very humid. It's hard to get my washing dry when the air is so moist.
A comment on Japanese toilets: there seems such a vast gulf between the so-called Japanese-style squat toilets you find in public lavatories, stations and some lower-end restaurants, and the 'western-style' type that sometimes have all sorts of gadgetry to pamper your derriere. Not to mention the commonly-found feature that allows you to play the sound of water flushing to mask your own tinkling. However, despite this WC wizardry they have yet to discover the joys of two ply paper. I guess they really must use the wash and dry buttons because otherwise, like me, they must always end up with a wet hand! Surely there's an opening for Andrex here. The cute puppy would be a sure-fire winner too.
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