Important things that dentists in Chiba prepare for dental checkups at health and welfare centers and schools
Hello
This is Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City.
It’s gotten really cold and snowy in the north.
Time flies.
This year, I was on duty at the health and welfare center to check up on 1.5-year-olds and 3-year-olds, and at the school where I am the school dentist.
In fact, these checkups often last more than two hours without a break.
I’m grateful to the dental hygienists and school teachers who assist me.
In schools, the air conditioning is not as good as at health and welfare centers, and the teachers who assist are often busy, so we often don’t have a toilet break.
It would be more efficient to take a five-minute break in between work rather than working for two or three hours straight, but it’s difficult to get everyone to accept this way of thinking.
So starting this year, I’ve decided to make sure to wear something.
It’s a urine pad.
Fortunately, I have never had to urinate in it, but it is very comforting mentally.
The need to urinate is probably influenced by psychological factors as well.
Another time I wear pads is when I fly internationally.
The number of passengers has increased recently, and the airport itself is very crowded.
Even if the plane departs on time, it is normal to have to wait at the tarmac for more than 30 minutes.
Even after the plane has leveled off, Japanese airlines are particularly strict, and you are not allowed to get up to go to the toilet while the seat belt sign is on.
In this regard, American airlines are relatively lenient, and if you go to the toilet while the seat belt sign is on and the plane suddenly shakes and you get injured, it may be your own responsibility.
In fact, once the plane has leveled off, the crew prepares the meal service even if the seat belt sign is on.
As has already been reported, the problem of urinary incontinence is quite serious for those involved, and there have been cases of train drivers unable to hold it in in the cab and leaking large amounts, and trains being delayed because they stopped at the toilet at an intermediate station.
In fact, the pads seem to be selling quite well to men in their 30s as well.
Rugby players have been wearing disposable diapers for a long time, so urinary incontinence itself is nothing to be embarrassed about.
I hope that by writing about it here, many people will be able to wear pads as a countermeasure and go about their work and lives as normal.
Is visiting a dentist in Chiba multiple times just to earn points?
Hello
This is Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City.
There is not much time left this year.
It was a year with many good things.
The Harada family avoids making their first visit to a shrine when there are many people at the beginning of the year,
so as usual, they visit a shrine near their home at the end of the year.
I recently found an interesting article.
It was on Yahoo news, and it was an article from December 11, 2024 titled “Is visiting a dentist multiple times to treat one tooth just to earn points for the dentist’s insurance?”
The article itself was interesting, but the comments were also numerous and well-written.
In reality, it is unthinkable that a patient would come to the clinic multiple times to earn points.
However, I thought it was important to know that some ordinary people think like this.
I immediately had all the staff at our clinic, including dentists, dental hygienists, treatment coordinators, receptionists, etc., read it.
Treatment and procedures at dental clinics are of course important, but I thought it was very important to always listen to what ordinary people think about dentistry.
Dentists in Chiba were prescribing too many antibiotics
Hello
This is Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City.
There are only 10 days left in October, but the temperature continues to exceed 25 degrees.
We removed the air conditioner early from one room due to clinic renovation,
but we are managing to beat the heat with an electric fan.
About 20 years ago, many doctors prescribed antibiotics when you had a cold.
Some patients actually actively requested that they be prescribed antibiotics.
In fact, several doctors appeared on a TV program and said that it was meaningful to prescribe antibiotics when you had a cold.
The reason was to prevent pneumonia after catching a cold! ?
I saw their expressions, and I thought they were making a pretty lame excuse.
At the ENT clinic that I sometimes visit now, there is a sign in the waiting room that says, “We do not prescribe antibiotics for colds.”
Antibiotics are effective when you have an infection.
However, prescribing antibiotics unnecessarily is a problem because it can lead to resistance, meaning they no longer work when needed.
In fact, doctors aren’t the only ones prescribing antibiotics unnecessarily.
Dentists used to prescribe antibiotics quite unnecessarily as well.
It has been common practice to prescribe antibiotics even for a minor tooth extraction.
About 20 years ago, I had the opportunity to listen to a lecture by a famous dentist who studied abroad in Sweden.
He said that at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden (the world’s leading university for periodontology),
they do not prescribe antibiotics even for removing sideways wisdom teeth,
because it is much more important to thoroughly clean the inside of the mouth before surgery and disinfect the area around the mouth to reduce the number of bacteria.
This is a natural thing to do.
For example, if you eat with your bare hands after using the toilet, you would normally wash your hands after using the toilet.
You would not normally take an antibiotic with dirty hands to prevent stomach pain caused by infection and then stuff your cheeks with rice balls by hand.
However, it has been common practice for dentists to prescribe a set of antibiotics, painkillers, and stomach medicines after a tooth extraction.
With the recent medicine shortage, one pharmacy has in fact been receiving a large number of penicillin prescriptions from dentists,
and there are reports that some penicillin preparations have run out of stock.
If dentists do prescribe antibiotics, they will only do so to people with diabetes or other conditions that are vulnerable to infection.
Also, unlike painkillers, antibiotics cannot be taken only when you are in pain.
The correct way to take medicine is to finish it off as prescribed.
Are Chiba dentists introducing automatic reception to reduce staff?
Hello
This is Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City.
On Friday, October 4th, the temperature exceeded 30 degrees, and I was surprised at what was going to happen, but it finally feels like autumn.
The clinic is currently being renovated, and construction is progressing every day with the aim of reopening in August 2025.
In fact, we are planning to install automatic reception.
Returning patients check in by holding their smartphone app over the machine, and the payment after treatment is also settled by credit card on their own smartphone app.
When I mentioned this to an American teacher in an English conversation lesson the other day, he asked me if the purpose was to reduce staff. I thought that it was a typical American perspective that focuses on money.
Recently, family restaurants such as Gusto and Saizeriya have been implementing automatic payment.
When paying, instead of a staff member, you hold a barcode over the machine and select your payment method from credit card, cash, QR payment, SUICA, etc.
At Gusto, orders are placed through a touch panel, the food is served by a robot, and customers place the food brought by the robot on their table themselves.
Ordering through a touch panel has become the norm even at conveyor-belt sushi restaurants.
I imagine restaurants are also struggling with a labor shortage.
The restaurant itself is busy with families and groups.
However, he lamented that Choshimaru near Chiba Station is different and more like a library.
Most of the customers are on business, or come alone.
They order on the touch panel in front of them, and when the food arrives, they eat in silence, pay, and leave.
Not a word is spoken during this time.
His ideal restaurant might be a typical American restaurant, where a waiter comes to take the order, asks about the food, and when the food arrives, the customer chats with his companions, sometimes with the customer at the next table, and jokes with the waiter when paying.
I’ve made a long introduction, but the reason our clinic has automated reception is not to reduce staff.
The purpose is to reduce the waiting time at reception and the waiting time after treatment to pay.
The idea is to have machines do things that don’t need to be handled by humans.
We use that freed time to explain things to patients and follow up with them.
Reception staff will assist first-time patients.
We use a variety of digital systems for treatment and regular management.
A digital scanner is used to take impressions for mouthpiece orthodontics,
and the Swiss company EMS’ Airflow, which cleans the inside of the mouth, is operated with a cordless foot pedal using Bluetooth, so there is less unnecessary wiring.
The reservation system is linked to electronic medical records, X-ray images, and intraoral photographs.
However, it is humans who perform the treatment and surgery, and it is humans, not robots, who explain things until the patient is satisfied.
This will never be replaced by robots.
In conclusion, we will introduce an automatic reception desk and increase the number of staff.
This will have benefits for both patients and employees.
The benefit for patients is that, as mentioned earlier, waiting times will be shortened.
In fact, on the day I am writing this, eight staff members are on paid leave, and one left early before noon due to a sudden illness in his child. Even so, the number of patients exceeds 120, and the clinic is operating normally.
This is something that would not be possible in a clinic with only 10 staff members.
A big benefit for working people is that you can take paid leave almost as often as you request, and even if you have to take time off suddenly for some reason you don’t have to cause any more trouble to other staff than necessary.
To get more specific, there’s also a rule that says you don’t have to buy souvenirs for staff if you use paid leave to go on a trip.
In fact, many staff members say that the thought of buying souvenirs for 40 people irritates them.
However, at our clinic, such consideration is absolutely unnecessary.
Our stance is that you should enjoy your own time on time off, and that there is no need to be overly considerate of others, so the office doesn’t end up overflowing with souvenirs from local areas.
Some staff members even avoid sugar, wheat, and vegetable oils.
This is how we enjoy providing medical care every day.
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Les dentistes de Chiba introduisent-ils une réception automatique pour réduire le personnel ?
Bonjour
Je suis Harada de la clinique dentaire Harada de la ville de Chiba.
Le vendredi 4 octobre, la température a dépassé les 30 degrés et j’ai été surpris de ce qui allait se passer, mais on a enfin l’impression que c’est l’automne.
La clinique est actuellement en cours de rénovation et les travaux progressent chaque jour dans le but de rouvrir en août 2025.
En fait, nous prévoyons d’installer une réception automatique.
Les patients qui reviennent s’enregistrent en tenant leur application pour smartphone au-dessus de la machine, et le paiement après le traitement est également réglé par carte de crédit sur leur propre application pour smartphone.
Lorsque j’en ai parlé à un professeur américain lors d’un cours de conversation en anglais l’autre jour, il m’a demandé si le but était de réduire le personnel. J’ai pensé que c’était une perspective américaine typique qui se concentre sur l’argent.
Récemment, des restaurants familiaux tels que Gusto et Saizeriya ont mis en place le paiement automatique.
Au moment de payer, au lieu d’un membre du personnel, vous tenez un code-barres au-dessus de la machine et sélectionnez votre mode de paiement parmi carte de crédit, espèces, paiement par QR code, SUICA, etc.
Chez Gusto, les commandes sont passées via un écran tactile, la nourriture est servie par un robot et les clients placent eux-mêmes la nourriture apportée par le robot sur leur table.
La commande via un écran tactile est devenue la norme, même dans les restaurants de sushis à tapis roulant.
J’imagine que les restaurants sont également aux prises avec une pénurie de main-d’œuvre.
Le restaurant lui-même est très fréquenté par les familles et les groupes.
Cependant, il a déploré que Choshimaru, près de la gare de Chiba, soit différent et ressemble davantage à une bibliothèque.
La plupart des clients sont en déplacement professionnel ou viennent seuls.
Ils commandent sur l’écran tactile devant eux et lorsque la nourriture arrive, ils mangent en silence, paient et partent.
Pas un mot n’est prononcé pendant ce temps.
Son restaurant idéal pourrait être un restaurant américain typique, où un serveur vient prendre la commande, pose des questions sur la nourriture et lorsque la nourriture arrive, le client discute avec ses compagnons, parfois avec le client de la table voisine, et plaisante avec le serveur au moment de payer.
J’ai fait une longue présentation, mais la raison pour laquelle notre clinique a automatisé la réception n’est pas de réduire le personnel.
Le but est de réduire le temps d’attente à la réception et le temps d’attente après le traitement pour payer.
L’idée est de faire en sorte que les machines fassent des choses qui n’ont pas besoin d’être effectuées par des humains.
Nous utilisons ce temps libéré pour expliquer les choses aux patients et assurer le suivi avec eux.
Le personnel de la réception aidera les nouveaux patients.
Nous utilisons différents systèmes numériques pour le traitement et la gestion courante.
Un scanner numérique est utilisé pour prendre les empreintes pour l’orthodontie buccale,
et le Airflow de la société suisse EMS, qui nettoie l’intérieur de la bouche, fonctionne avec une pédale sans fil via Bluetooth, ce qui réduit les câbles inutiles.
Le système de réservation est lié aux dossiers médicaux électroniques, aux images radiographiques et aux photographies intrabuccales.
Cependant, ce sont des humains qui effectuent le traitement et l’opération, et ce sont des humains, et non des robots, qui expliquent les choses jusqu’à ce que le patient soit satisfait.
Ce système ne sera jamais remplacé par des robots.
En conclusion, nous allons mettre en place un bureau d’accueil automatique et augmenter le nombre de personnel.
Cela aura des avantages pour les patients et les employés.
L’avantage pour les patients est que, comme mentionné précédemment, les temps d’attente seront réduits.
En fait, le jour où j’écris ces lignes, huit membres du personnel sont en congé payé et un est parti tôt avant midi en raison d’une maladie soudaine de son enfant. Malgré cela, le nombre de patients dépasse 120 et la clinique fonctionne normalement.
Ce serait impossible dans une clinique avec seulement 10 employés.
Un grand avantage pour les travailleurs est que vous pouvez prendre des congés payés presque aussi souvent que vous le souhaitez, et même si vous devez prendre un congé soudainement pour une raison quelconque, vous n’avez pas à causer plus de problèmes aux autres employés que nécessaire.
Pour être plus précis, il existe également une règle qui stipule que vous n’êtes pas obligé d’acheter des souvenirs pour le personnel si vous utilisez vos congés payés pour partir en voyage.
En fait, de nombreux membres du personnel disent que l’idée d’acheter des souvenirs pour 40 personnes les irrite.
Cependant, dans notre clinique, une telle considération est absolument inutile.
Nous pensons que vous devez profiter de votre temps libre et qu’il n’est pas nécessaire d’être trop prévenant envers les autres, afin que le bureau ne finisse pas par déborder de souvenirs des environs.
Certains membres du personnel évitent même le sucre, le blé et les huiles végétales.
C’est ainsi que nous aimons prodiguer des soins médicaux au quotidien.
This is Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City.
It’s still hot in September, but I hope that it will cool down in the latter half of the month, as the saying goes, “The heat and cold will last until the equinox.”
There was a dentist who used to practice in Chiba City who used to go to clubs in Ginza.
It’s been almost 10 years since he quit dentistry, so I think it’s okay to write about it here, but
he also wrote about it in the dental association’s newsletter.
He said that he couldn’t stop going to Ginza clubs because he could get information that the general public couldn’t get.
It’s been more than 10 years ago, but at the time, it was 30,000 yen for a beer with a hostess sitting next to you.
Maybe there is information that can only be found there.
As for me, I have no interest in going to such places.
Other than this, perhaps there are other things I should experience as a business owner, such as meeting geisha or spending time in Kyoto with maiko and geisha, but I have never been there and don’t have any particular desire to go.
Of course, I don’t deny that there are people who like this kind of fun.
Everyone is free to do what they want.
I once read an article by someone in the entertainment industry who said that men should have a lot of fun in the nightlife where there are hostesses, but I personally don’t feel like going.
Of course, I like eating out with friends and family, but I get sleepy late at night, so I make sure I get enough sleep and take good care of my health.
In this respect, it’s great that Dodgers player Ohtani turns down invitations to drinking parties after games and gets about 10 hours of sleep.
A famous baseball player was photographed coming out of a drag queen bar in the past, but as I’ve said many times, people are different.
I will continue to take care of my health and time.
Just to be clear, I’m not writing this because I want to be invited to these kinds of places.
Is it “impossible” to offer paid leave or childcare leave at a dentist in Chiba?
Hello
This is Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City.
In the summer, we have to be on our guard against typhoons and torrential rains.
It is essential to be prepared on a daily basis so that we can be prepared for any disasters that may occur.
The other day, a famous influencer said on YouTube that “it is impossible for small and medium-sized companies to give employees full paid leave or childcare leave these days.”
This person usually makes sharp comments about politics, so I thought, “Oh, that’s strange.”
In the first place, paid leave is an employee’s right, and if an employee applies for paid leave, the employer must approve it.
It is true that in a workplace with a small number of employees, for example a workplace with three employees, even if one person takes a day off, the number of employees will be reduced to two-thirds, or about 67%.
So, having three employees is not at all uncommon in a dental clinic, and if three employees are reduced to two, the clinic will be in a lot of trouble.
For example, after dealing with a patient at the reception desk, you might immediately assist the dentist inside, or if the phone rings, you might stop your assisting duties to answer it.
In this situation, it is difficult to take paid leave out of consideration for the other staff, so they don’t take it.
They only take paid leave together just before they leave.
It’s a difficult situation if even one person is absent, but the two staff members who come to work on the day the patient is absent have to do the work of three people between them, so they are exhausted by the time they finish work.
It is especially difficult not only physically but mentally when someone suddenly misses work on the day.
If this continues, it’s natural that some staff will leave early or some will badmouth the management during their lunch break, creating a negative spiral.
There is something important to note here.
It is the 80:20 rule.
This is a concept I learned at a seminar by Anthony Robbins, the world’s number one life coach.
The 80 in 80:20 is mindset, and the 20 is technical skills.
Improving technical skills is absolutely necessary in any job.
For example, in the job of a dentist, it is absolutely necessary to receive training to improve your skills, attend study groups to increase your knowledge, and read books.
However, focusing only on that does not mean that your dental clinic will be successful.
This is because 80% of work is influenced by psychological factors.
In other words, things like not being in an overly busy working environment, being able to take paid leave, and being able to take childcare leave without worrying are four times more important than improving technical skills.
In fact, even among the staff of our clinic, there are some who, even if they have a lot going on at work, feel refreshed when they go on a paid vacation and are able to work hard again.
Of course, there may be some people who can work 24 hours a day like the hard-working employees of the high economic growth era of the 1950s and 60s.
However, those were times when wages were rising steadily, and if you worked hard you could see a bright future, in other words, it was a time of spiritual fulfillment.
Even now, there may be people who can work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for their own mission, but that is less than 1% of the total.
I think that people who work normally choose workplaces where they can take regular holidays, have little overtime, and have a good work atmosphere.
The number of people who become managers (as opposed to self-employed) is probably less than one in ten.
Managers and employees are completely different people.
You should not force the behavioral patterns of managers on employees.
It usually doesn’t work if you do that.
Getting regular employees to participate in study sessions for managers usually doesn’t work well.
In fact, if you do that, some employees will quit.
You’ll end up wishing you hadn’t sent them to study sessions for managers.
I know a lot of examples like that.
I think there are few managers of dental clinics, and many others, who start their own businesses after learning how to run them.
So most people spend the first few years of their business learning about employment.
However, I think it’s normal for entrepreneurs to have trouble with their employees in the first few years, and this should not be repeated.
Let’s go back to the first influencer.
Before deciding that it’s impossible to give employees full paid leave or childcare leave, wouldn’t it be better to try to do so and run your company better?
That’s management effort.
If your business allows employees to take paid leave properly, your staff will work enthusiastically.
The reason is that, as I wrote earlier, 80% of work is about feeling, and the remaining 20% is technical skills.
Top athletes should not fix their teeth alignment.
A story about a dentist in Chiba being severely scolded by his tennis coach
I was scolded by my coach.
“That’s the way it was 30 years ago!”
When I played tennis as a student, I was taught to hit the ball solidly and flatly with my forehand.
In other words, make sure the contact time between the racket strings and the ball is long, and put power into the ball with a closed stance! That’s the way it’s done.
There were players like Sweden’s Borg who put extreme topspin on the ball, but it was by no means a standard way of hitting.
Borg, who won Wimbledon five times in a row, has an unconventional two-handed backhand, and holds the racket with just his right hand during the follow-through.
Even now, it’s rare to see anyone hitting like this.
Going back to the forehand, the material of the racket has changed significantly since those days, and now the mainstream way of hitting is to use a thick grip and pull the ball to put spin on it, like in soft tennis.
However, due to my old habits, I still tend to use a closed stance and get close to the ball when hitting the ball.
It’s true that I can’t hit a fast ball like this.
But I’m getting too close to the ball.
Besides, the fact that you can see two balls is proof enough that the ball speed is slow.
When I look at this photo in the past, I thought it was a good shot, but looking at it now I can see that it was an incorrect way of hitting the ball in the past.
Well, the Paris Olympics were very moving.
However, one thing that bothered me was that many Japanese athletes had crooked teeth.
It is often said that a good bite can improve the balance of the body and enable high performance in sports.
That is certainly true, but if you are a top athlete with crooked teeth, should you undergo orthodontic treatment?
From the perspective of a dentist, the answer depends on what level you are at now as a top athlete.
If you are at a level where you can aim for a gold medal at a world championship, you should undergo orthodontic treatment after you retire.
If you are not yet ranked 100th in the world and want to improve your performance, I definitely recommend undergoing orthodontic treatment.
This is because while some people improve their sports performance by correcting their teeth and bite, others’ performance may decline.
It is true that a good bite can improve the balance of the body and improve shoulder and back pain, but it can also make your body less mobile.
That’s how delicate the human body is.
In the past, it was said that professional golfers could increase their driving distance by wearing mouthguards during matches.
I think they were later banned from wearing mouthguards.
If it’s something that can be removed like this, you can stop using it if it doesn’t work.
However, once you’ve actually moved your teeth, it’s not easy to put them back if it doesn’t work.
So if you’re already a top 10 athlete in the world, or an athlete at the level of representing Japan in the Olympics, it’s safer to wait until after you retire to get your teeth straightened.
A dentist in Chiba who misunderstood the building of a clinic for 37 years
Hello
I’m Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City, which is currently undergoing major renovations of the clinic in preparation for completion in the summer of 2025.
When we opened in 1987, it was a wooden building that also served as a home.
I’ve been mistaken for over 30 years.
Because it was a wooden building, I assumed the exterior walls were made of wood.
However, when I was meeting with the staff of a construction company the other day, I found out that the exterior walls were ceramic siding, an exterior wall material made by molding the main raw materials of cementitious raw materials and fibrous raw materials such as pulp and wood fiber, curing and hardening them, and painting them.
It is called “ceramic siding” because it is made by hardening it in a high-temperature, high-pressure “kiln”.
It has excellent fire resistance, durability, and quality stability, and is a material that is easy to process by cutting and drilling, and has a simple construction method.
It has various advantages, such as a short construction period and relatively easy maintenance.
It’s true that if the exterior walls were made of wood, they would burn easily in the event of a fire.
When we first opened, the exterior walls were a grayish white, as shown in the photo. This is a type of building that is commonly seen in the town of Goslar, Germany, and buildings with siding of this color stand throughout the town.
I was so impressed by its beauty when I visited Goslar some time ago that I decided to make my own clinic in this style.
The car I was driving at the time was a Toyota Carina ED with a number 5 license plate.
Around the following year, the bubble economy began, and women began saying that they wouldn’t be interested in men who didn’t drive number 3 cars.
The variety of materials used for exterior walls has increased since then. I’m currently considering what kind of exterior walls to use for the new clinic.
I’ll report back on the progress of the renovation.
A dentist in Chiba is surrounded by 39 Germans and is in a critical situation.
Hello
This is Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City.
It’s a new year.
I immediately went to the shrine with my family for New Year’s visit.
I look forward to having a good relationship with you this year too.
I would like to tell you about when I attended a dental conference in Berlin, Germany last year.
Berlin is the capital of Germany, and squares, stations, and streets throughout the city have familiar names such as Potsdamer, Adenauer, and (the philosopher) Kant.
That’s when I went into the toilet at Potsdam Station.
Many station toilets in Europe charge a fee and have a caretaker at the entrance where you pay.
However, the toilet at Potsdam Station was unmanned and you had to insert a 1 euro coin to use it.
If there is someone inside, a red light will turn on, making it visible from the outside.
There are only two toilets, and they can be used by both men and women.
I suddenly wanted to relieve myself, and after waiting for a while, there was an opening, so I put 1 euro in there and went in.
When you enter the facility and press the button, a red lamp will light up and the electronic lock will lock.
There is no physical key.
After a while, I heard a group of people yelling outside the toilet.
What kind of group is it? At that moment, the toilet I was in was opened from the outside.
Apparently he was using the restroom and even though the red light was on outside, did he insert a 1 euro coin from outside? The door seemed to open when I pressed the green unlock button.
I was in the middle of relieving myself, but I got up in a hurry and pressed the red button from inside to close the door.
Then, less than a minute later, someone opened the door again.
This time, I put on my pants properly, quickly closed the door, pressed the red button, and slowly (it’s an automatic door, so it only closes slowly!) closed the door.
As I was about to take out what was left, someone opened the door again.
In the end, this exchange was repeated five times.
Finally, while I was washing my hands thoroughly with soap, someone opened the door again, and I couldn’t understand why they would do this.
There was a group of junior high school students who appeared to be German.
Maybe they couldn’t stand the situation, but the lock light was on in the first place, and they were able to open the door from outside after only about 2 minutes of using it. Is this okay in Germany? It was an experience that I couldn’t help but think.
Needless to say, in order to save time, I took a taxi from Potsdam Station to the conference venue and used the restroom there.
Lesson: Automatic toilets overseas are dangerous.
Berlin is a big city, but as I entered the residential area from the center, I couldn’t help but feel the difference between rich and poor.
In fact, incomes may be lower in former communist countries such as Lithuania, Estonia, Slovenia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, but there are no cars honking, the towns are clean, and you don’t see any homeless people.
