Lit otd

"We left our mark in truck stops and motels across the country.  So
much was new to them.  In Taos, New Mexico, Suzuki and Oh stayed in a
pink adobe suite with a fireplace.  They got drunk and made a small,
cozy fire in the hearth, and when they ran out of firewood they burned
the telephone book and the Bible, then a chair and a bedpost, and
finally the bedroom itself.  After the fire department had left, Oh
explained, somewhat sheepishly, 'In Japan fireplaces are not so
common.'

"In Austin, Texas, after Suzuki passed out while running a bath and
flooded thirteen floors of the Radisson Hotel, I asked him if baths,
too, were not so common in Japan, but he just shrugged. 'Of course we
have baths,' he said.  'We are famous for our baths.  It's just that
our tubs are so much deeper.'"

                                          -- Ruth Ozeki,
                                             _My Year of Meats_