He has a hard time believing that I eat rice only a couple of times a month. The microwave sits on top of the refrigerator, which is as tall as American models, but is about one third narrower than a normal single-door model. To the left of the refrigerator is the laundry room with a washing machine. Due to the cost of energy, Japanese washing machines are hooked up only to cold water. The machine is half the size of a standard American model.
Clothes dryers are an almost unheard of luxury.
Here again, the inconsistencies seem strange to me. The washer is so high tech that it is able to change the wash cycle in reaction to how dirty the clothes are. We rode another bus from Kumamoto Airport to the hotel, where our seminars were held. The man in charge of the local program serenaded us using the bus's P.A. system. He sang poorly but enthusiastically in both Japanese and English.