Japan was fascinating to us. I mean, how could it not be? We were a group of 10 high school students, some away from home for the first time, as part of an Exchange Group with the Sister Cities Program. And as students, we were joking and horsing around taking it all in. I remember just after checking in, we all raced to one room (thankfully not mine) and were checking out all the buttons on the space age toilet the hotel had. It could play music and sounds. It could warm the seat. And it had buttons we had no idea what they did, and dials to change settings. So we all stood around the toilet pressing things and mashing buttons.
Then someone found the button for the bidet. A quick stream of water shot out. “Hey!” Someone shouted as they got wet. That only made the boys laugh as they started playing with the dials. Soon a massive stream shot out and hit the ceiling…and it wouldn’t turn off. Water sprayed everywhere, getting us all wet. I remember big drops hanging from the ceiling before gravity took over.
After some shouts and curses, we finally got the possessed toilet to stop. Every corner of the bathroom was wet and soaking. I remember most of us took one look and quickly exited, leaving the poor occupants of the room to mop up.
Travel Missteps is an every-other week series on how sometimes part of the journey is making mistakes and getting lost.
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