Getting Settled in Japanland

I've had a couple days to scope out the town, and things are looking good. My apartment is situated in a pretty convenient area. The main mall and shopping district is fairly close, and one of the main train stations is also close by. One down side to the apartment is that it faces a pretty narrow and busy street, which makes my bike ride commute a bit tense. At this point I have resigned myself to the fact that I am eventually going to get hit by a car. I've already had a close call or two and I have a year to go. Kyoto was very bike friendly, and a lot of times there were more bicycles to be seen than cars. In Ashikaga, though, people are a bit less attentive.


The thing with Japan is that I am comfortable enough with it here that I can't document that initial shock of weirdness. Some things that were insane to me 5 years ago during my first Japan outing now actually make some sense. Here are a couple of just random shots I took over the last couple days. Enjoy.

One thing I've always enjoyed about Japan is the use of space. In this country there is really no such thing as a "vacant lot". Here is what I assume to be a rice field adjacent to a heavily populated area.



I just really liked this sign. I can read it, but it doesn't make any sense to me.



This is the toilet seat section of the main electronics store in town. They are pretty intense about multifunctional toilets around these parts. Note the key pads to the left of the lids.



Here is a case of delicately detailed plastic sushi. It is common for Japanese restaurants to have fake models of the food they offer for sale.

Nothing too exciting yet, just trying to survive. Hehe.