It's rainy season.

It's raining. A lot.

The UK has a reputation for rain but, funnily enough, I remember thinking every year over the last few years, just how little it did actually rain in the UK. Plus, when it did, it was normally for a brief spell only and it was very rare if it continued.

The rain in Japan is something else. Since I've been here, if it starts raining chances are it'll still be raining 24 or 48 hours later. And that outside of the rainy season.

Anyway, I was told today the rainy season will last until the third week in July so I thought I'd save everyone's sanity by trying to get all my rain whingeing out in one go. It's not fun. It might be a wonderful thing for the farmers and the ducks, but I am not a farmer or a duck. I don't like rain. It's not a pleasure to get wet and worry about your things getting wet all the time. Cycling in the rain is not fun. Getting on trains that smell of saunas because of all the wet people, is not fun. Being poked and prodded by massive umbrellas is not fun. It's just not fun. Okay?

Of course, the hot days we've also been having recently are nothing compared to what I've been told to expect. So for the rest of June and most of July I'll be hot and wet and sweaty, and in August and the first half of September just hot and sweaty. Yay.

I promise to not mention this again. Unless it REALLY annoys me.

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Yesterday, I accidently ate natto. Natto, is the devil's food. Imagine that bit of old food you threw into your dustbin six weeks ago still lurking there and you get a vague idea of the smell of natto. Have you ever smelled durian fruit? It's like a spring morning in comparison to natto. What is natto? It's fermented beans. Not only does it smell vile, but it looks pretty gruesome too. You know when you eat pizza, and the cheese sort of stretches in a satisfactory way? Imagine that cheese string being SLIME. That's what you get with natto between chopstick and mouth. As for the taste - I can't even begin to describe that. Anyway, it was hidden in some sushi rolls I'd bought and I'd eaten a couple of them before the taste hit me. I felt SO ill.

Of course, in Japan this is hugely popular and (apparantly) extremely good for your health. Most of my students even claim to like it and many Japanese eat it for breakfast. Right.

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I want to share something with you. This is from Thorntree, a travel bulletin board. One day someone posted that one of the departments in her company was complaining that it never got its paperclips back when it sent them out. The poster decided for a giggle, to post her company's address with the request that people send in paperclips. People from around the world did and for a while it confused the hell out of her company, until she fessed up. Anyway, it makes a pretty funny read, so here you go: A good practical joke?

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And this morning they were playing Amazing Grace at the train station. What was THAT all about? [baffled expression]

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For any motorcyclists out there, Sanrio has now released a Hello Kitty motorcycle helmet.

Kawaiiiiiiiiiiiii, ne?