Just better in Japan, Vol. 1

I've been meaning to post for awhile about some of the things that just plain work better here. Here's #1!

On the inside of the cupboard door under the sink in Japanese kitchens, there's a knife rack. Now, it only holds 4 or 5 knives, depending on the rack, so maybe you'll have another knife rack somewhere as well, but it's just incredibly useful. The knives are very safe; because they're hanging, you can even put them away slightly damp and they'll dry; they're out of the way, and yet they're extremely convienent.

While there are plenty of aspects of Japanese life that are incredibly inefficient, there are also a fair number of things like the knife block that are just unmitigated wins! Hopefully if I keep writing about them people in the rest of the world will pick up on some of them ;-).