Started out the day by heading down to the Toyoko Inn foyer to try their Japanese style breakfast. Rice balls, with your choice of bonito fish flakes on the outside, or with hunks of seaweed throughout the ball, with miso soup on the side, and coffee. Needless to say Veronica had the breakfast, while Charlotte, Angela and I sat and waited for her to finish. I still cant seem to desire rice coated in dried fish flakes, with a side of hot salty bean paste soup for breakfast. It just doesn't seem right to me. But Veronica said it was good, so at least one of us got our moneys worth. So out of the Toyoko Inn, we trekked through the morning crowds to the JR station and reserved our seats for the train to Sasebo. We caught the Huis Ten Bosche Midori express train, which was silver with red and green livery. Having booked the seats we were afraid of having to nurse the girls for the 1hr 40min journey from Fukuoka to Sasebo, but the seats in front of us were vacant, so Veronica and Charlotte sat in them until such time as someone got on with those seats reserved. Luckily for the entire trip, nobody did, so we each had a seat. The conductor looked a little flustered when he checked our tickets, but he let us stay there. He did point out that Veronica and Charlotte were in the wrong seats, so I'm guessing that was his way of telling us to move if someone got on with those seats reserved. No problem... Took quite a few photos of the countryside on the journey to Sasebo. A very large storm was battering the mountains to the west of the train line. Also, the number of small villages which were basically life support systems for huge rice fields was amazing. So we arrived in Sasebo station, and with no problems found our way to the Hotel, the Sasebo Central Hotel (http://www.sasebo.co.jp/index_e.htm), which unsurprisingly is in the centre of the Sasebo shopping district. This is the hotel at which the Hotel Manager is best friends with Veronica's old Teacher from the high school she attended while here as an exchange student. The manager gave us a superb rate on the room (AU$200 per night for a $440 per night luxury suite), and promised to look after us. She has a soft spot for Australian's because her daughter was an exchange student in Western Australia, and when she found out that Veronica was taught by her friend, that only sweetened thedeal. As we arrived the desk clerks knew exactly who we were, and we were greeted by a very warm welcome, and the girls were even given a choice of toys from a basket of gifts. Charlotte unsurprisingly chose jewellery, and Angela for some reason chose a snake. No idea why. So we made our way up to the room, and we knew it was going to be good, but we were completely blown away by how amazing this room is. Our room at the Toyoko Inn would fit entirely inside the toilet and bathroom area, and the room has every luxury we could expect in a hotel room. A bath the size of a small swimming pool, twin sinks, one of which switches on and off when you put your hands under it, a toilet which opens it's lid when you approach, and closes and flushes when you leave. Beds that raise, lower and tilt. Multiple plasma screens. A tatami mat sitting/dining room, a motorised sitting chair, separate climate control for the sleeping and dining room, and seperate roof mounted speakers with individual mood music controls for each room. The shower/bath area also contains controls on the wall to turn it into a giant heated dehumidifying and drying chamber for drying your freshly washed clothes. When not dehumidifying, the air conditioner in the shower/bath chamber doubles as climate control. Another realisation I have come to is that I may never again experience a greater toileting experience. The toilet comes with wall controls, with which you can manually adjust the exact aim and pressure of the spray, as well as specifying whether you want a jet-stream or a fountain to spritz your undercarriage. One major flaw I have found with all other Japanese toilets is that they leave your South end very very wet, which must then be dried with the toilet paper which goes to pulp. Not so with this toilet. It has a temperature controllable blow-dry option, leaving your nethers dry as a bone without using a square of toilet paper. This toilet has made the humble toilet paper role virtually obsolete. Believe me, I'm going to be dissapointed when I have to leave this hotel room, and every time I sit on another toilet I will probably feel a little bit depressed, because I have experienced greatness. Although one thing we did discover about the technology in the appartment: The orangy-red square button next to the toilet controls is the emergency call button. What kind of emergency one would experience in a toilet I don't really want to think about, but we had reception call the room shortly after arriving back in the room from a walk, asking whether everything was ok in the toilet, as the distress button had been pressed. Whether it was Charlotte or Angela who pressed it we are not sure, as they both looked guilty. About 15 minutes after we arrived we got a phone call from reception, saying that Veronica's school teacher Tagawa Sensei had arrived in the lobby. She was apparently passing through, and wanted to drop off gift for our arrival, but we had actually arrived early. She came up to our room and met me and the girls, before handing out gifts, and helping us decypher the air conditioner and cool the room down. She said that she is going to Veronica's old school, Seiwa, on Monday, so we will also go out there after midday on Monday for Veronica to have a look around. Veronica eventually managed to drag me out of the hotel room and we went to explore Sun Plaza, Sasebo's main shopping arcade, which is directly across the street, and is very, very long. We walked from one end to the other just for laughs, and got some lunch. Had some tired girls (and me) so nap time back at the room seemed like a good idea. I climbed aboard the bed, adjusted it to the ultimate level of comfort, and promptly fell asleep. Veronica awoke us for dinner, and we went across the road to another quaint little Japanese restaurant. Once again the meals were cheap and very, very good. Angela's meal appeared in a fire truck, and consisted of pasta, chicken, rice, a prawn, a sausage, orange juice and fruit for $6. With an extra bowl of rice, this fed both girls. Once again I got some strange looks from the entirely elderly local clientele in the restaurant when I photographed the meals, but I'm now at a stage where I dont care. After dinner we returned to the room to do skype calls to both sets of parents, before bathing the girls in the pool tub and putting them to bed. Unsure what is on the menu for tomorrow. Perhaps we will go to Huis Ten Bosche for the day if the weather looks good. Monday is booked already with the high school visit, and if possible, Tuesday may be a 99 islands cruise, although we have had reports of bad weather and wind which may put a dampener on those plans.