Two days in the life of

After 14 months in Fukuoka culture shock has definitely worn off & life here is almost as 'normal' as back home (although language ability remains a major struggle!). This getting used to your environment and the surrounding culture is comforting, but it also implies that the 'waw!'-factor has somewhat disappeared. I still encounter incomprehensible & entertaining things, but not as often or with the same impact as before. So Vaughan & I decided to spend last weekend re-exploring a few neighbourhoods and discover aspects that may have been overlooked for a while. Nishijin & Daimyo are not exactly on the tourist trail but I always enjoy seeing the small picture, checking out the life of the locals and trying to blend in as much as possible (very hard though with people staring at us!).

A cross-section of people at a traffic light in our area, with special attention to the girl in the teeny-weeny skirt. Despite the fact that autumn is in full swing many Japanese women continue to don the mini, with several girls also biking in this outfit! Let's just say this leaves very little to the imagination...

One of the things that hardly ever gets mentioned about Japan is the sheer ugliness of the cities, with overhanging telephone wires & electricity cables in particular being real eyesores. Drab grey concrete buildings, screaming neon lights and a general lack of aesthetics add to the visual pollution, something which is astounding in the second richest nation in the world. Bury those wires people, please!

Autum is in the air in the trendy district of Daimyo. I love the sunny, crisp months of October & November here and would happily trade them for the sweltering, muggy heat of summer :-).

Very funky, yet slightly creepy shop

You gotta love Engrish! Signs like these can be found everywhere, and it's definitely about form and not content.

Aah, the joys of a relaxing weekend in autumn: sitting in warm, cosy cafe's, chatting, taking photos and feasting on delicious slices of cake :-).