Rushing into the hotel room in Nagoya (after a long ride on curvy roads to an interview at Meijo University, and a trip on the 163-mph Nozomi Super-Express Train No. 29 out of Tokyo) I managed to make two blunders in less than 30 seconds. I pressed the spray button instead of the flush button on the toilet and I washed my mouth out with soap.

Neither act was difficult. Every toilet is a little different in Japan. The one thing they share is their maker, the American Standard of the East, Toto. (The joke is that the British band Toto was on tour in Japan in the 1980s and thought their fans had enscribed their name on every toilet.) And what I thought was tooth paste -- it was a tube and was labeled in all caps, "WHITIA," was no promise of pearly whites but a "cleansing foam."

After several minutes of coughing and rinsing, I realized I had done what my mother had always threatened to do -- washed my mouth out with soap.

Fortunately, this did not diminish my enjoyment of the soup at the hot noodle shop. The miso (soybean) broth was served boiling with chicken and eggs (which came first, I wondered).  As instructed, I put on a bib and slurped my noodles. Japanese comfort food!

Tomorrow we get back on the bullet train for the 38-minute ride to Kyoto, ancient city of temples. The tea ceremony is at 1 p.m. Say a little prayer for me; it involves an hour of kneeling.