Yesterday I mentioned that we went to Hiroshima on Monday. Today was really busy at school so I haven’t had time to put together a post about the trip. But here are some photos that made me smile, taken in one of the Hiroshima shopping arcades.
Category Archives: Photos
Three Houses and a Passage
Today I spent the day at Jarrod’s school, watching their undokai, a kind of field day or sports festival. It was hot and dusty, with a lot of sun and wind. It was also a lot of fun to watch, filled as it was with an assortment of unusual games and races.
But that’s a topic for a multi-part post that I don’t have time or brain power to write tonight. Instead, I’ll be presenting something completely unrelated. As the title says, three houses and a passage.
For Sale: Hope and Peace
Just a quickie tonight, as I spent the day touring around Kitakyushu—on foot, train, and bus—with sisters-in-law in tow.
Japan Tobacco is the third largest cigarette company in the world. The Japanese Ministry of Finance is a major shareholder, owning two thirds of the company. Apparently there are many Japanese men who believe that smoking is their patriotic duty—half the men here smoke—and tobacco profits help shore up government budgets that have been gutted by post-bubble recessions and economic stagnation.
How to unite this support for the government with Japan’s postwar anti-military constitution and wishes for a return to prosperity? Pacifism and wishful thinking through cigarettes, of course!
Ice Ice Baby
A couple of weeks ago, around the time I was starting to think about writing the Kokura fashion report, one of the Japanese teachers at my school received a courier package. That’s Japanese as in literature, composition, and such, since besides me, everyone at my school—students and staff—is ethnically Japanese. The receiving of a parcel isn’t unusual in and of itself, since various teachers often get deliveries: textbook samples, standardized test scores, home ec supplies. The list goes on. I only noticed it subconsciously, absorbed as I was in correcting some second-year student translations—which, coincidentally, were all about fashion—until the teacher in question stopped by my desk and showed me the open box and started gesturing towards its contents. She eventually flagged down an English teacher to translate.
It Smells Like Victory
Today you get an ode to the anonymous queen of Japan’s flowering trees: the humble jasmine bush. I first noticed it last year in early May, but even more so this year. My first encounter was while walking through a pedestrian lane one evening with Lia, near Tobata station. We actually backtracked to make sure we hadn’t imagined it.
A year later it doesn’t surprise me as much. Every so often, the scent of jasmine comes floating out of nowhere and brings a peaceful smile to my face. I get to experience flashes of this serenity at four or five points on my daily commute, though at 30kph—on a bike—they’re fleeting. The scent is subtle but unmistakeable, and a welcome change from the usual smell of factory emissions and exhaust.
Bovine Pilicular Achromatitis
The recent wave of long posts have taken their toll so I’m going to return to writing about one-part posts until I recover. But don’t worry, this condition is just a by-product of laziness and isn’t related to exposure to diseased ruminants.
Do you remember our trip to the volcano-rich Aso area of Kumamoto? If not, please read the second paragraph of my horse archery post so I don’t have to retype it.
Kokura Spring 2005 Fashion Report, Day 4 Part 2
Continuing from yesterday’s post of pictures from May 5—today’s are from the same day—we’ll work our way back through the arcades near Kokura station and finish up at Riverwalk. We’ve got moms and daughters—two sets!—as well as a bit of navel gazing, someone who appears to have given up his worldly possessions for a higher purpose, and the usual short skirts. Thankfully, this is the final installment of my five-part series on this year’s spring fashions in Kokura.
Kokura Spring 2005 Fashion Report, Day 4 Part 1
First, a confession. Because Lia knew that I’d finished writing this fashion report and then serialized it, she demanded to immediately read it through to the end. This is an exclusive privilege limited to people who don’t yell at me too much for filing my tax returns late have physical access to my computer so the rest of you will have to wait. But that’s just backstory.
Kokura Spring 2005 Fashion Report, Day 3
I’m sure you’ve all been wondering what a dog, an incognito Marvel superhero, and the sacred feminine have in common. The answer is: Green Day in Kokura!
Friday April 29th marked the start of Golden Week, a series of civic holidays that are very close together. The rest of the Golden Week holiday was the Tuesday through Thursday of the following week. We also took the Monday and Friday off, and had a ten-day weekend. April 29th is Green Day, named in honour of an American rock band.
Breaking News: Fire
Your regularly-scheduled Kokura Fashion Report has been pre-empted by curling NHL Playoffs for a news flash about grade-school antics in the House of Commons the neighbourhood fire that woke us up at around 4:30 this morning. Apologies in advance if there are typos, grammar mistakes, and sentences that stop mid-thought. I’m tired and haven’t had a chance to read through this very thoroughly.