Today’s blog is just a collection of little things from Japan. First up is what happens to you if you go to the park in the evening for some exercise wearing shorts rather than trousers.
As far as I could work out this was done by that most evil of creature the Ceratopogonidae or biting midge, which took rather a fancy to my sweet leg meat. After showing my leg to and ignoring the advice of the assistants in the chemist who told me to go to the hospital, I bought some rub on spray which stopped the itching enough for me to wear my work trousers during the week, despite the very sweaty hot Japanese summer.
Next was Halloween (yes I know that was 4 months ago but it gives me something to write about) and some traditional English fish and chips for dinner in a traditional English pub. You can tell it’s traditional because Japanese people they know that in England fish and chips is sold wrapped in newspaper and so any traditional pub must do the same. Only Japan, as it usually does when trying to emulate something foreign, doesn’t get it quite right. Whereas in England newspaper wrapped fish and chips was so you could take it away and eat it on the street or at home, they give you the fish and chips on a plate. But to make it authentic they first cover the plate with newspaper. Which you then take to your table. And eat with chopsticks. Which themselves have had a special fish and chip newspaper wrapper made up instead of just the usual paper.
Still I can’t really complain. Since the idea of take-away food hasn’t quite caught on in the same way here it was actually really tasty fish and chips.
Japan likes cute and does it better than anyone else in the world. Even their street drains are cut even if it also looks extremely sad and in need of water to drain.
There will be more cute things in part 2.
