Boy when it rains it REALLY rains

So, rain in Tokyo means 2 or 3 days non stop. Great fun. And as for Typhoons....

Anyway, there`s been another few little earthquakes in the last few days and today was actually a dry day, which made a change. I didn`t leave my apartment yesterday (just stayed in, snuffled, and caught up on stuff that needed catching up on) but it chucked it down all day.

Lots of random comments today:

One of the things I love about the earthquakes, is the after judder in the apartment. I`m sure I`ll get bored of it soon, but I love the feeling of the building shaking from side to side. I`m odd. I admit it.

After talking about my disappointment in only seeing vending machines with cold drinks and cigarettes, I realised that hot drinks (as in bottles of hot beverages, not cups of) vending machines, and ice cream vending machines are all over the place too.

The comic books that are popular here need further clarification here too. Don`t think kiddies comic; think two IKEA catalogues size. Seriously, they are massive!

Apart from scarey blonde woman, another ad that keeps catching my eye is one for `goo world`. In `goo world` you can get `goo parts` and `goo bikes`. This amuses me.

Tokyo is one of the cleanest and tidiest places I have ever seen. I am yet to see any graffiti anywhere and even litter seems a rarity. I also haven`t been into a single public toilet that hasn`t had toilet paper yet. Imagine that happening in England? How refreshing!

After my small dog rant, I saw a large dog. It was looking most dignified and sitting next to two t-shirt wearing chihuahua`s. Large dog wasn`t wearing any clothes thankfully.

Apparantly dental hygiene is very big in Japan and bad breath is a big no-no. Teeth brushing is, therefore, extremely important. Oh, by the way, I`m talking about dogs still. One of my students told me about this today. He has five chihuahua`s and cleans the teeth of them all after every meal. Bless.

I`m really getting the hang of cooking well with one ring and one teeny toaster oven now. I`m yet to find fresh veggies with any sort of taste or lasting ability though.... The hunt goes on.

Most Japanese people seem to carry around little flannels to dab the sweat from their heads. Quite cute really!

The realisation my apartment is pretty much soundproof is wonderful. This is a rarity in Japan apparantly.

In the UK I rarely listened to my music but put all of my CD`s and half of Val`s CD collection (the decent half) onto my computer. I`ve never listened to so much music before. It`s wonderful having it all with me. Once I`ve connected up to the net at home, I may venture into the area of Japanese radio and see what that has to offer...

The other thing I`m hearing a lot of, are circadas. They`re everywhere by the sound of it.

And on the subject of wildlife, I saw two massive crows today. Or maybe they were ravens. I can`t tell the difference. They were very big and scary though. Think Alfred Hitchcockesque here!

I`m getting millions of emails which I love, but my letterbox has so far given me nothing but junk mail. It`s getting lonely. No hint intended. As if!

I bought some peanut butter the other day. I`ve never known anything like this. It`s shiny smooth. Tastes good though........

And I am loving having my own fridge after years of flatsharing and being stuck with one shelf. It`s bliss. It`s wonderful. It`s heaven. It`s something I`ve been longing for for ages...... and it`s full :D

In my bedroom I have what could be labelled the world`s worst lamp. It is so tacky, and so out of style with everything else that I`m actually growing quite fond of it. It`s got a gold base and gold stem and gold leaves coming out of it with a tulip shaped white head bit. Very old fashioned but growing me.

Bakeries, etc. They have a lovely system here whereby you pick up your own tray and your own pair of tongs and collect what you want before they bag them individually for you. Cute!

Enough for today!