The most requested images from friends and family have been of our abode. Don’t ask me why. Our apartment isn’t nearly as interesting as everything beyond its boundaries in this country. But I’ll post a few shots anyway for the curious.

The first photo, above, is the view from our little balcony. Our building is 5 stories (I think; I haven’t actually gone above the ground level). We are on the walk-in level and don’t have a need for the stairs or elevator. There is one level below us and several above. I’m guessing the balconies on the top couple of floors have pretty cool views. Our view is mostly obstructed by the neighboring buildings. The people who live downstairs have no real distant view at all, but they do get space for a garden and/or some trees as you can see.

This is one side of our narrow kitchen. The other side, not pictured, has our rice cooker and refrigerator/freezer.

Above is the master bedroom, featuring room for two single beds and not much else.

Our kids sleep in the above room which has enough space for two, roll-away, single futons and two small desks–one of which I’m typing from at the moment.

Posted on August 31st, 2009 under Japan. Tags: apato. Comments: None

Just in case you didn’t get enough of Meiji Jingu last time, here are some more photos.

Posted on August 30th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: clouds, japan pictures, meiji jingu, shinto, skywatch, Tokyo, torii. Comments: 2

Tomorrow is election day in Japan. To that end the candidates have been out in full force since we arrived in Japan a couple weeks ago. The campaigns are somewhat different than in the U.S. Candidates run around town in cars, vans, and buses with loudspeakers saying their name, party, and/or a message over and over again. Sometimes they’ll stop and give a speech from the top as the above photo shows. I took this picture in front of the Takadanobaba Station.

For those of you that can’t read Japanese, the political party sponsoring this van is none other than the Communist Party (共産党 or Kyosanto). There is no majority party in Japan. The communists get about 7 or 8% of the vote.

The two largest parties are 自由民主党 or 自民党 for short (frequently called the LDP in English). This party is most like the Republican Party in the states. 民主党 (Minshuto or DPJ in English) is the one most like the Democratic Party in the U.S. Neither party gets more than 40%.

Ads on the road are more controlled than in the states (thank goodness!) and can only be posted on boards set aside specifically for them. The above is an example.

The guys on the lower corners will likely get the most votes since they belong to the LDP and DPJ so they don’t provide much of a message–just a name, picture, and party for the most part. The guy in the upper right corner is the communist. To try and garner the younger votes, I suppose, he lists his age on the poster as 33.

The guy in the middle on the top has a long message to make. If you can read Japanese you can click on the above photo to get a bigger picture to read from. But the funnest one of all is the guy on the bottom in the middle. I’m guessing he is in a party of one. And what a party it is. The name of his political party is the Smile Party (スマイル党). He shows you just how happy he is with four pictures of himself smiling. Were I eligible to vote, I’d vote for him if I was certain he didn’t really have a chance of winning.

Here is another shot of the communists filling the air with noise pollution at incredible decibel levels.

Posted on August 29th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: people. Comments: 1

This past Saturday I spent about 3 hours on trains going to and from one of the places where I am teaching (Atsugi Naval Air Base). There were many more people dressed up in summer yukata than normal. It dawned on me that, it being a Saturday, summer festivals could be happening. As I exited my train station I took a look at the nearby display board of public events. On the one I was looking at there was a notice for a 祭り (matsuri or festival) at 諏訪神社 for that day and the following day.

I told the family when I got home that they probably shouldn’t eat much at home. They were still unprepared for their first summer festival, however, as they didn’t come hungry.

Festivals aren’t just about food though. There are lots of games too. The game above allows you to catch (and sometimes keep) goldfish.

The above sign says that you can catch and keep up to 5 fish for 300 yen. If you want to just catch them for fun (and not keep any) then the price drops to 200 yen (about $2).

If goldfish aren’t your thing then perhaps you’d like to fish for toys instead?

The last photo is supposed to be one of the traditional, Japanese summer dress. The yukata look authentic, but I don’t believe Crocs were very styling in the Edo Period.

Posted on August 28th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: food, japan pictures, matsuri, people. Comments: None