Japan on my Mind Today

Here's a group of kids playing in the river just down from our house. Most of this particular river is not lined with concrete, thankfully, but there are advantages to the odd concrete section. It would be a SIGHT if I were to go out and give this a try sometime, but it's tempting... "Hey, did you see the giant, 2 meter skinny, white gaikokujin jumping into the river today with the kids? Sugoy neeee! Kowai neeee!"

The other picture is a mural sized advertisement for the gas company that I saw in a train station. Hunkabutta had posted a bunch of billboard shots that week, so I decided to keep my eyes open. I sincerely doubt you'll find many gas company workers that look like this, and it certainly makes you wonder what they're really selling. But then, you can advertise just about anything in Japan with a pretty female face. Add a group of scantily clad dancers and you can sell...a brake job? Tires? Motor oil? Yes. So what's the strangest commercial you've seen in Japan?

We'll be heading back to our home in Tokyo in 22 days. Seems like the time is dwindling down. That's because we're leaving my parents' house (my hometown) in just 3 days. Then we'll be on the road and staying with friends. Ahhh. We'll miss this place when we go, but Japan is home for us now. I'm starting to look forward to getting back there. To see our friends. To move our kids into their own room. To pick up my Japanese again. To fire up the old rice cooker. To haul out the 50 cans of green chile that I'm bringing with me and arrange them on a shelf. To start riding my bike again. To lose whatever weight I've gained here by eating comparitively massive amounts of red meat and cheese.

Posted by jw at July 19, 2004 07:55 AM