Beer makes you constipated

.. or is it just "Too Happy"? ... You be the judge.

What the..

Why did I take this photo? ... and what am I doing?!?

yummy music

Just a shameless bit of commercial promotion from one of my favorite musicians..




Here at my work computer I don't have access to my photos, but.. at least you have alpacas orgling to enjoy.

Rainy season

There is a period of time, from late May into June, when Japanese people talk about the rainy season. And sometimes it really comes down hard for 20 minutes or so. The husband in the above photo is going out to unblock the path of water flowing in front of his house.




Drain clogged near my front door

Occasionally, the rain comes suddenly enough, and the clouds are powerful enough, to produce lightening and thunder. And since rain in Japan is usually gentle, many people (most people?) are frightened by thunder. I remember being near a busy train station when one of these squalls hit, and I heard girls screaming after hearing thunder.



Of course, at times like these, I get the overwhelming urge to explain that in Texas, thunderstorms that last all night are common. And for me thunder is calming. (Of course, if a lightening bolt hits your house or the tree in your front yard, it isn't so calming. But in general, it stays up in the clouds, and has a nice effect.) .. Think of the beginning of The Doors "Riders on the Storm".



But I can't see why Japanese people insist that the "Rainy season" lasts for weeks and weeks. It does not rain every day, and it is not depressing like a Portland Oregon winter. There's sun. And flowers. And cool weather days. And the sky is clear enough (pollution-haze washed away) that you can see Fuji-san. And I like that.


view from work

Perhaps the big talk is people's way of expecting the worse, so that if they do happen to get hit by a steady week of rain, they won't get depressed. Or maybe it prevents people from having their picnic plans ruined. "Oh, can't do it then--it'll be the rainy season." It's like a social insurance safeguard.

Is this common to all countries? Do we all expect the worst, for a specific season? For people not living in Japan, can you think of something similar from where you live?

PS

For a PG13 bit of wackiness, I recommend http://www.rathergood.com/looking/

The little train that could..

.. go underground.

Ahoy, and welcome to what promises to be a burst of blog activity. As you might notice, today I uploaded a bunch of pictures that I'd like to blog about. And today is the first one, about trains.

Today I waited about 25 minutes at a train track crossing for a (legal) chance to cross and go to work. I didn't have anything important to do, so I took it as a chance to watch how Japanese people handled the inconvenience.. ..which quickly turned into watching folks from the neighborhood duck under the warning barrier pole and scuttle across.. and I mean literally scuttling old men amidst the students, office ladies, and even a foreigner with a bike helmet--who wasn't me! Only about 30% waited longer than 5 minutes .. If I manage to catch this on camera, and I'll it post up later.

The train line's traffic has obviously exceeded the originally intended capacity. Apparently, the solution is to dig some tunnels and draw some cartoons.

From 20070614 blog...

What struck me was the sad/happy faces both as text art and on the trains. Otherwise the PSA seems serious.



"Serious" is a relative term.. and in Japan the above faces are not considered cute or for children--their purpose is to describe the problem quickly without technical details. I like the concept, but the faces still get to me. I guess I'm still not Japanese enough. ;)

PS

I got sick of the tiny tiny font and my inability to easily change it, so I switched over to the new Blogger style. It means I gots no more cool peek-a-boo comments. They're apparently possible, but it's a pain, and it's not clear to me if changing my "Page Elements" will hose my peek-a-boo hacks.. so.. I guess we'll live without them for now. Apologies to all my peek-a-booers out there.