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Happy Spring!
Happy Spring! It’s official. Today’s the vernal equinox and we have a national holiday to celebrate. Tonight, we’ll feast on our traditional Spring dish–grilled mushroom sandwiches with handmade herbed mayonnaise. I hope Tod remembers to buy a new grill today…
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Dwelling names
Intersecting interesting English with strange building names, we get Himalayan Hights. Check out that cool 1950s script typeface. This is a pretty typical Tokyo apartment building–six blocky stories of yellow brick, dark brown trim, and not a mountain in sight. I would like to own apartment buildings to that I can give them names. I’d…
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Poop dick?
This is, hands down, the strangest store name I have ever encountered. It’s a “recycle shop” which is called a second hand store or a thrift store in the US. I had a hard time remembering the English for recycle shop. “Does that say ‘poop dick’?” Tod asked incredulously as he read the Japanese sign…
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Blossoming
My prediction was wrong. The sakura appeared on Saturday! Our long walk took us along the Kanda river near Edogawabashi. The park there is lined with cherry trees that hang over the water. So beautiful! The trees should be in full bloom later this week. I wonder if the season will last until next weekend;…
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Library cards
We have library cards. We took a long walk yesterday and discovered a small library not too far from our house. We stopped in and marvelled at all the books: a huge children’s collection, cookbooks and magazines on the first floor; music, novels and non-fiction on the second floor. Mainly in Japanese, of course. We…
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Documented work
Outdoor workers are often accompanied by a photographer to document their work. In a case like this, it would be difficult to tell in a few weeks’ time if the work had been performed adequately, so photos tell the story and prove the work was done. The sign notes the date and location as well…
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Almost blooming
The sakura are almost ready to bloom. The buds are huge and swollen but not quite popping out yet. Wednesday or Thursday next week, I’d guess. That’s about ten days earlier than usual. I’m looking forward to walking under the pink clouds of trees that give up their petals within a few days of blooming.…
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We broke the toilet
We broke the toilet seat. Maybe it was already broken and we just noticed it. Or perhaps (most likely) it was about to break and our big, gaijin butts were the straw that broke the camel’s back and cracked the plastic seat. Having just moved into this new building, I figured I’d better ask the…
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Just around the corner
Just around the corner and down the street from us is the Japan Shiatsu College. The founder of the school, Tokujiro Namikoshi, is also the the father of the shiatsu. Namikoshi is depicted in a larger than life bust in the front. He looks so happy. There’s an interesting article about him written by Shirley…
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A million yen sounds
A million yen sounds like a lot, but doesn’t go far when you’re doing taxes. My gross income was just over a million yen which makes my taxable income about 450,000. Subtracting out the deduction of 380,000, I should be taxed on only 70,000 yen of my income. (That’s about $500). I’ve already paid about…
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