the art of living in Japan

April 3, 2010

My little spring day.

These flowers were blooming at the foot of a tree in front of the office... What are they?

Spring at last! So, I decided to go see the cherry blossoms!

I went to a place called Sakura Shuku Gawa in Hyogo Prefecture. There were a bunch of people eating rice balls, drinking beer and playing cards under the blooming cherry trees.

I picked a tree, spread out a plastic sheet to sit on, opened up a bottle of spring water and some snacks and started to read with the sounds of laughing children and quite a few tipsy adults as BGM.

I wanted to read a book that would fit with my surroundings...so I chose:

Those are not my hands, by the way.

I took more pictures of the cherry blossoms. Today I have only posted the ones I took from my i-phone because I have misplaced my camera cord thingy... argh.

Tomorrow I am off to Tokyo for meetings. Will be spending half my day in a hotel room getting ready for the meeting and doing an online crash course on how to use PowerPoint.

I also need to get my picture taken somewhere because I have forgotten (yet again) to renew my passport. Yikes!

Happy Easter, happy spring and happy reading!

March 21, 2010

hiding from a magical flying carpet of desert

I have just returned from 3 days in Tokyo. I visited clients with a senior colleague to learn more of "the ropes". Then we had some meetings... Then I stayed an extra night so that I could see a friend who lives in Tokyo. I had lots of fun and did a whole lot of learning but it does feel good to be home!

However, terribly strong winds kept me from having a deep sleep last night.

Those howling winds did not come empty handed. They brought along the Gobi Desert.
o_0
What I thought was fog and clouds turned out to be a trillion specks of sand.

I didn't take pictures but you can see a news clip about the yellow sand we had today( click HERE).
The sand has made cars and windows dirty and it has given me a sore throat too!

The dust that covers Japan and Korea (and of course the sandstorms in Mongolia and China) have been growing in proportion these past few years.

Today's blanket carpet of yellow sand was extra harsh....

If you are thinking "well it's just sand!" then please know that it is not only messy but it is also unhealthy.

If you have hay fever, then a spell of a runny nose and watery eyes is "normal". The real danger is in the toxins that attach themselves to the sand as they "fly" over China's industrial zones... of course Japan has industrial zones too, but the chemicals found in the sand are said to be quite toxic and have matched with the chemicals China has been founds to use.... thus the sore throat?

this is a picture I took in Kitakyushu, Japan (2010 March)

So...I have had to hang my wash "out to dry" in the house instead of outside as it is usually done.

socks and shawls

Since I did not want to go outside and get wrapped up in a veil of sand, I decide to clean my room...which ended up being a mini treasure hunt instead.

I found out that I must be liking the colors blue and green since that seems to be my latest buying trend:

blue wrapping paper, green envelopes, blue and green tape, blue bird clothes pin, a blue silver button and
in the very back...a four-leaf-clover tin box

Even a book that I have been meaning to read has a beautiful blue on the cover...