Satellite TV and Washing Machines

Well been back over a week now and work is getting a little bit more hectic but it’s still not too bad.
Main thing I’ve been doing is preparing for my eldest son Ben and his mate coming over here on the 14th August, which is actually only a couple of days away as I write this.
The apartment is not really set up is still need quite a few thing and my main purchases this week has been a washing machine and I’ve also invested in a satellite dish and receiver so I can get Skyperfect TV, no it’s no relation to Sky TV over in the UK.
First thing I bought was the receiver and dish, unlike the UK you buy these yourself over here mount the dish hook it all up to the receiver phone up for instruction and angles for the dish etc. You then jiggle the dish about until you get a signal that’s the theory and that what it shows in the manual but just remember everything’s in Japanese, just buying the flaming thing turned out to be a bit of a nightmare. Had been checking things out over a few days which was best and the best price stuff like that and asking around. Like I say went to the shop of coarse no one speaks English but thought it would be easy saw the one I wanted and pointed to it and the price, guy comes over goes away comes back and starts talking ten to the dozen. Right then and there I knew I had a problem but that’s what mobile phones are for, I’ll just phone up the people I know who speak Japanese get a translation and Bobs you uncle so to speak or so I though but no one answered the phone.
After what seemed like half an hour of phoning round and a lot of frustration and sweating the guy still talking to me occasionally got through to someone and found all the guy was trying to say was they didn’t have the make I was pointing at but had a Sony for the same price, now why don’t he say that so finally get the thing.
After that got it back did all the stuff you need to do to fit it and turned it on thank god Skyperfect TV has an English customer service desk, cause I couldn’t get anything I mean zilch to begin with, starting to think something was broken couldn’t be me, I’m a practical person after all if there’s a signal out there to be had and all I need to do was point a satellite dish at it I could get it surely and if I couldn’t something must be wrong or broken couldn’t be me could it.
After about ten phone calls and me finally getting a signal and thinking great turned out i couldn’t get a picture though that’s when I knew for sure something was broke so I phoned again. Seems I’d tuned into a signal from another satellite and not the Sky one, bit more jiggling and adjusting, by the way this had taken about 4hrs. Finally got the right signal and got TV, you get two weeks free to watch all the channels than you have to subscribe to what you want, not bad for a starter.
So one down one to go bought washing machine next, got it from Aladdin’s cave it a Mitsubishi and guess what everything was in Japanese surprise surprise. There was only one water feed to it which was cold water which made me suspicious, so I spent the next night pressing buttons and doing about 6 small washes trying to find the one that heated the water, think I put it on ever cycle it had and probably a few it didn’t as I presses so many buttons.
It was quite funny really I set it to washing then after a while I’d open up the top stick in my hand see if the water had got warm, needless to say the water never did get warm, gave up in the end and went to bed.
When I got to work the next morning asked a guy I know there about washing machines in Japan and how they heat up the water he gave me a blank look. I told him what id been doing all night that’s when he smiled and I knew I’d been doing something stupid, he told me that Japanese washing machines all wash with cold water, another mystery of the east it’s all in the soap powder apparently.
Oh one more thing when i was at the gym came out and saw these guys dancing around, usually don't have my camera when i go to the gym but this time i did so could not resist taking a picture something to do with the festival last week check out the faces, the things they have in their hands are old rice sieve's you know throw the rice in the air and the rubbish blows away.