These days people are constantly taking photos, it’s just so easy with the likes of digicams and camera phones, everywhere snap, snap, snap. With all this amateur photography going on, I picked up pretty quickly that the Japanese also say cheese before taking a photo.

Armed with this knowledge I was very happy that during my first trip to Odaiba, a Japanese family asked me to take their picture. So I put the viewfinder up to my eye and shouted “Say CHEESE!”.

I got nothing, no response, no reaction.

Slightly embarrassed I took the photo, gave them the camera back and made a hasty retreat. You see, Japanese people do indeed say cheese, or more accurately “Hai, Chizu!”, before they take a picture. However it seems to be for no apparent reason. Saying cheese is an attempt to get the person whose picture you are taking to smile but in Japanese the ZU sound will only ever get people to make an O with their mouths and all look as though they have just solved a difficult problem.

Although it seems impossible, there is a way to get Japanese people to smile when taking their picture. All it requires is a simple maths problem. Just say “1+1 is?” (ichi tasu ichi wa?) and people will reply “2!” (ni). The “ni” should create a nice wide smile in your quarry.

Ironically if you tried this in England people would just say “two” and look as though they had just solved a difficult problem.

Don’t believe it when you read that Japan in a technophile’s dream. Free wi-fi hotspots are not available anywhere and at home, internet speeds are not super fast everywhere. Especially not in my house where streaming a clip from youtube and navigating a web page at the same time is considered an event to be celebrated for generations.

Having had to deal with my terrible internet for over a year, I suddenly snapped, decided to cancel it and bought this instead:

This little device is the EMOBILE Pocket Wi-Fi D25HW. It basically uses a 3G signal and broadcasts a wi-fi one so you can use any wireless device anywhere. It can achieve speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps which, unbelievably, is miles better than my home internet ever achieved. It supports up to 5 devices at once and now I can use my iPod Touch to surf the internet when out and about, rather than using my mobile phone and incurring mad charges from my phone company. Also now I don’t have to use the terrible Japanese Twitter mobile site, but that is another story.

The device is small an easily fits in your pocket but I have yet to take it to deepest, darkest Japan. So far it has worked great anywhere I have taken it except, oddly, my bedroom at night (which may or may not able to be classed as deepest, darkest Japan depending on your opinion). So it sits in the living room charging most of the time, it’s battery life is perhaps the only drawback. They claim it lasts about 4 hours of constant use and that seems about fair but if you use it while it is charging it does not completely fill the battery, which can lead you to being caught short.

All in all, this is a great little device that frees me from the shackles of an immobile internet and allows me to procrastinate wherever I want.

Everybody knows about the reputation Japan has for space age toilets. Bidets, deodorisers, massages and heated seats are commonplace. However you never hear about the flushing options that are available to you.

Almost every toilet I have seen in this country presents you with a dilemma: Do you go big or small? You see, on every flush there are 2 Kanji, 大 (big) and 小 (small).  大 gives you a big, strong, powerful flush, capable of sucking down an elephant while 小 gives you a refined, personable flush.

For all my time in Japan I have always used 大 (you know, just to be certain) but fairly recently it was Earth Day. While attending the festival in Yoyogi Park I felt a little guilty at my lack of “ECO” and started to think about ways to help save the environment. Using only the small flushes was just about the only thing I could think of.

So now I am an Eco-warrior, saving the planet’s water supply one flush at a time.

Hamami literally means “flower viewing” and is a time of year around the end of March to the beginning April where people go for picnics in parks with lots of cherry trees. Everybody loves cherry blossoms here, for about 3 weeks everyone is talking about them. Being from England I didn’t see what the excitement was all about. Sure they are kind of pretty but nothing to get worked up about.

I recently discovered that the fun to be had was sitting under the tree rather than looking at it. Basically people use it as an excuse to get very very drunk. People place their tarpaulin on the ground and sit there all day drinking alcohol, eating food and drinking yet more alcohol.

Everyone joins in too, young and old alike. In fact, during Hanami season the office junior is sent to find a spot in the local park in the morning and sits there all day to save it until after office hours.

So now I agree, cherry blossoms are great. However, they often leave me with a headache in the morning.

I have spoken about my need for larger than normal shoes before but I never mentioned the shop I get them from. Back in the day the only option I knew of was Sakazan in Shinjuku. Sakazen is a shop for men of large clothes sizes and contains about 5 floors of very large suits, jeans, T-Shirts and pants. They also sold shoes but they were in a small corner of the 4th floor, stocks were very limited with very little variety.

Thank the Lord that after one particular unfruitful shoe buying expedition I looked across the road and saw a big sign outside a new shop. The sign bore the legend “BIG MAN’S SHOES”. Quickly crossing the road I was greeted with a great sight, rows and rows of shoes that actually fit me.

Big Man’s Shoes or Kutsu no Hikari, which I discover later was the shop’s real name, stocks both trainers and business shoes in sizes 27.5-34cm(ish). I heartily recommend it to anyone else who has problems finding shoes in Tokyo, although I warn you now, they do not stock ladies shoes.

Kutsu no Hikari is quite far from Shinjuku station but not too hard to get to. Exit Shinjuku station by the east exit and heads towards Kabukichou, when you get to the 2nd big road turn right. After about 10 minutes you should come across the shop on your left. The Sakazen just opposite is pretty hard to miss so look out for that.

Here is a map to help you find it easier.

View Larger Map

Happy shoe hunting.