Nagoya Station

Looking out at the Nagoya Skyline from the JR Shinkansen Platform

Neighborhood Church

What are the odds that I move to Japan, a country where most people are Buddhist or Shinto, and end up living next to a Church?

Japanese Can Collecting

This is how the serious returnable can collectors in Japan go about it.

Video Tour Part 1

So I got board driving home from work and decided I could make a video tour of my life in Japan. This part is about driving to and from the office. Excuse the bugs on the window and the shakiness of the videos, I was concentrating more on my driving than on holding the camera steady.

Clip 1: Listening to War and Peace on the way to work as I enter the toll road, Sanage Green Road.
Clip 2: On the way home from work driving through the nearly 2km tunnel along Sanage Green Road.
Clip 3: Entering a more urban area about 4km from my apartment
Clip 4: Passing through Kamiyoshiro Interchange
Clip 5: My neighborhood

Golf in the City

Here is an example of golf in my neighborhood.
Golf Store
...and Driving Range....And a more recent example captured on video from my balcony.

Water Fountain

This is a different take on a water fountain. It is located under a road overpass. Rather than being shot up from a pool this water falls down into the pool on the way rotating a sculpture.

Public Toilets

A common Japanese public toilet, complete with a bar for balance.

Three-way Crosswalk

I was confused and nervous when I spotted people walking diagonally across this busy intersection, until I noticed that it had crosswalks in three directions.

Vending Machines

If there's one thing we don't need in my office (or in Japan in general) its more beverage vending machines. When I left the office one night this week I was saddened to see that the fake tree in the employee entrance lobby had been replaced by yet another vending machine. I used to sneak under that tree to get past the crowd (of skinny people) waiting for the elevator so I could take the stairs, it will be missed.

Meito-Ku Historic Walking Tour

On Wednesday Rebecca and I went on the Meito-ku historic walking tour, which came highly recommended by my Mom. Who knew all this was so accessible in my ward of the city?

Postal Delivery Vehicle

My mail is, presumably, delivered by this vehicle, the postal service motorcycle.

Bicycles in the Rain

I've heard a rumor that it is illegal to ride a bike while holding an umbrella, but that doesn't stop the masses from doing it anyway.

City Life

So much for thinking I would be living city life in Japan. On my way from the office to my parking lot last night I heard hissing and screeching in the bushes, but assumed it was just fighting cats. I almost leaped into the street when two raccoons ran out of the bushes nearly tripping me as they brushed past my feet still howling.

9:00 am Announcement Truck

This morning at 9:00 this truck rolled down the street announcing something...something in Japanese that I wasn't even going to try and comprehend at that time on a Sunday morning. Please notice the megaphone attached to the top of the truck, slightly to the left, probably to keep from deafening the driver.

Small Car, Smaller Garage

The monthly cost of my garage amazes me, it's roughly 1/8th the price of my whole apartment. When my lease car (The oh so cool Ractis, with a glass roof) was delivered the delivery person insisted on parking the car in the garage himself as opposed to letting my risk scratching the car, with 6km on the odometer, because the garage is just that small.



The mirrors on the car must be folded in, a feature on (all?) cars here, halfway through the process of backing the car into the garage to make it fit. The first time I attempted to put the car in, I decided that I was going to stick with my American training and go in front first, as opposed to backing in. Lesson learned, the next day when I went to back the car out of the garage onto the one way street and found that my neighbor had parked a car on the street making in nearly impossible for me to get the car out. In a process of inching in one direction or another and then getting out of the car to check on my progress I managed to get out, but not without causing several of my elderly neighbors walking by to laugh at me.