Steaming Your Face? Read this first.

plus, avoiding counterfeit creams

Welcome readers, old and new! Please hit the ❤️ above to remind yourself—and all your lovely fellow HNTFUYF-ers—that hope and optimism aren’t the same, and that your half-empty glass may be filled with ambrosia.

Speaking of which, last week I took the Tokyo Toilet Tour. A discreet way to describe a bout of norovirus? No, so much better than that!

Have you seen the Wim Wenders movie Perfect Days? It’s about a man (an intelligent, well-read man) whose job is cleaning public toilets in Tokyo. As the story follows his chores and routines, his fastidious work, we come to share the deep joy, satisfaction, and sorrow present in his ordinary life. I was thrilled at his profound appreciation of komorebi—the dancing shadow patterns created by sunlight shining through tree leaves—as he ate his lunch outside. I’m continuously awed by the trees in Japan; many have a presence, like you can feel them standing next to you. I recently discovered that the Shinto religion holds that spirits (kodama) inhabit trees that reach 100. So!

Anyway, about the movie. Not to be wildly hyperbolic, but I thought it was no less than a magnificent articulation of the meaning of life. Naturally, when a friend mentioned a tour was available of the public toilets featured in the film, I was all over it. For a quick explanation of how the movie came about, read this. The toilets were every bit as architecturally interesting as I thought they’d be; the spaces safe, comfortable, well-lit, meticulously clean. Also, user-friendly: One even features doors that open when you say, “Hi, Toilet!”

Your devoted correspondent enjoying the komorebi Perfect Days experience at one of the movie’s filming locations. (Photo credit: Jacqui Andall)

It's my last week here before heading back to the U.S. and I’ve spent it walking around Tokyo greeting toilets and trees. Something about that feels exactly right.

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