October 31st, 2005 §
One evening a couple months ago the doorbell rang, and being the ever intrepid gaijin I went to see what Japan had delivered to our doorstep. Usually the doorbell heralds one of three things; someone from the apartment downstairs in need of computer help, our landlord collecting the monthly neighborhood tax, or the delivery of a package (my favorite). But this time is was something new! A representative from NHK (the Japan Broadcasting Corporation)!
Obeying the masochistic urge welling up inside of me, I opened the door to see what form our communication would take and if I could decipher heads or tails of why he was at our door. After waving around several pamphlets and asking if we had a television he said, “You have to pay, don’t you know?” Blinking several times I told him I’d talk to my husband and ended the very confusing interchange that never would have occurred had I simply not answered the door. I told kzi what happened, and we surmised that the NHK representative was just trying to muscle me into an NHK subscription with his English phrasing. The pamphlet wound up in the garbage and I haven’t thought about it since.
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October 11th, 2005 §
So I finally got around to taking a few pictures of our bare but warmly lit apartment (click here for the set).
All rooms are represented somewhat accurately, except for Auz’s room which is not represented at all, because, well, it is not warmly lit. Don’t be fooled by my mad optic skill(z), our apartment is quite small, though I do feel confident with my portrayal of how much furniture we really don’t have.
October 2nd, 2005 §
On Thursday kzi and I took a magical trip to the Kakegawa Kacho-en, a bird and flower park boasting several greenhouses filled with magnificent plants and birds. “Oh, like a zoo,” you think, but nay! Better than a zoo! From the website:
“We feature a variety of birds and species which belong to owls, parakeets, toucans, penguin, emu and waterfowls etc. Most of the birds (except owls) are unleased and fly free within the huge greenhouses. Do not hesitate to touch them! You can even feed them directly from your hand! Perfect satisfaction is guaranteed to all the people who truly love birds and nature.”
As someone who truly loves birds and nature, I can testify that yes, perfect satisfaction is indeed guaranteed. Is it possible for anyone to be unsatisfied after touching a penguin, feeding emus, and being accosted by an endless succession of small yellow parrots? In order to avoid a rather bland step-by-step narration in the style of family photo albums that will utterly fail at conveying my excitement and wonder for the bird park, I’ll just post a couple photos and a few words for each. The remainder of the photos will wind up as a photoset on Flickr (note: there is currently only a placeholder for the Kacho-en).
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