This may seem strange, but Japanese people don't drink water. In the office where I work, there isn't a single fountain. At my base school, there is only one fountain for 200 kids. No one carries a Nalgene, and on a hot day no one sticks their head under the tap for a cool drink. A friend even told a story of a 20 mile hike where the kids weren't allowed to bring any water!

In Canada, I was bombarded by advertising and government messages to drink eight cups of water a day. Such a monumental (and ridiculous) task! Drink that much, and you spend most of the day taking a leak. Nonetheless, with a water fountain or water cooler in every hallway, a drink was never far away. At high school there was a water fountain in the main entrance way and only a few steps from all the side entrances. The first thing I did when I got to school every morning was to have a drink of water. Walking to class I'd have another, during gym 10 or 15.

Here, it's normal for me to go the entire day without any water. Coffee and tea is what I drink most of the day, neither of which is very healthy or thirst quenching. But it's easier to get, and thus easier to drink. Coffee is available at the coffee pot, as is green tea. In fact, green tea is available everywhere, especially vending machines, of which there are millions. Every gas station, library, supermarket, resturaunt and public square has its vending machine. There are even rest stops with nothing but vening machines, shops with vending machines rather than isles and a clerk. With so many vending machines, who needs a water fountain? And why drink water, when, at 120 yen for a little bottle, its more expensive than Coke or Aquarius, at 150 yen for a big bottle?

Well, obviously water is better for me. Many days, when the only thing I've had to drink is coffee and tea, my legs cramp and my belly feels like Lake Superior. I get headaches. So, on the train home I vow to drink some water, but invariably ending up buying an Aquarius, because its a better deal. But its loaded with sugar, which does nothing for my headache, and rots my teeth on top.

What I don't understand is why the Japanese don't appear to be affected by similar symptoms. Perhaps because they drink tea from birth, it doesn't do a number on their stomache? Whatever the reason, they don't seem to drink water like we do. One reason, I suppose, why nobody even knows what a Nalgene is.