The first topic today is...

More Noise: Today I went to Ueno Park in the city. I visited the National Museum, which was an interesting way to pass a couple of hours but a bit expensive at 1000 yen Anyway, afterwards I was sitting near a fountain in the park when I heard ding-dong music over loudspeakers. The tune was rather like a Christmas carol, but not quite identifiable. I figured there must be a reason for this music, so I looked at my watch and it was exactly 5pm. I think maybe this happens every hour. A few seconds later, from another direction, I heard a different chiming. Maybe the zoo's clock is a bit slow!

The next topic is Bumps and it has 2 parts:

Bumps, part 1. In most countries, tiles of raised dots run along the edge of railway platforms so that visually-impaired people won't fall off the edge. In Japan these tiles have been taken to what I consider to be an unnecessary extreme. Of course, I've got weak ankles...

Anyway, aside from the dots, there are also tiles with raised stripes on them. Rows of dotted or striped tiles seem to be everywhere. A row of striped ones is set back from the dotted platform-edge ones. Lines of dotted ones outline squares at the top of the stairs. Dots line the top of the stairs. (OK, that's as good a reason as the edge-of-platform ones.) Sometimes these tiles are bright yellow. Sometimes they're stone like the rest of the floor. I have yet to figure out why many of them are there. Decoration?

It gets worse. Lines of striped tiles run along the middle of sidewalks. My theory is that they are trying to get people to stick to the correct (ie., left) side of the sidewalk as they walk along. But this is impossible. On the outside are lampposts, sandwich boards, flags of various businesses (including Nova!), garbage on garbage days, and probably a few things I've forgotten about. On the inside are vending machines, parked bicycles, various products from various shops that won't fit inside and will entice customers, etc. So everyone has to walk in the middle. So why formally DIVIDE the sidewalk???

On the subject of sidewalks...Off the main streets, in the neighbourhoods, the sidewalk is just a line painted along the side of the narrow street! Sometimes I have to squeeze against a wall - or jump into someone's driveway - to keep from being run over by a car swerving around a lamppost on the opposite side. Or a big 4x4 that has NO business in the narrow streets of a Tokyo suburb.

Bumps, part 2. I'm talking about earthquakes. I've experienced 2 now and they haven't been very scary. The first one occurred at about 3am a couple of weeks ago and the second was just before 10am last Saturday morning. In both cases I was lying on my futon - the first earthquake woke me up, I think, but for the second I was already awake and trying to get myself up for a run. (Which I did.) Anyway, I could feel my house shuddering and swaying a bit, but nothing fell over or even moved, and both events were surprisingly quiet. I wasn't scared. I just lay there wondering how long they would last, whether they'd get worse, and whether I should hide in my closet or open a door. They lasted between 10 and 30 seconds (I really couldn't judge) and I was fascinated. My Japanese friends tell me that as long as things are going side to side and not up and down, it's nothing much to worry about.

At least now I know why there's a crack running down my bedroom wall.

One more topic for now. A couple of ads have caught my eye on the trains. One is for a new drink called "Beer Water" and the ads say "This beer has truly refreshing drinkability". It comes in a blue & white can. I find the name a bit off-putting - as the Labatt's Light ads say, "If I wanted water, I'd ask for water!" Most Canadians laugh at this ad - we think it must be an American-style beer.

The other ad features Whitney Houston with an alleged quote from her saying, "Make it happen with...Nissin". I thought Nissin must be a breath mint or something, but apparently it's a money-lending company! By the way, Celine Dion (not to be outdone by the competition) appears in ads here for Geos, Nova's main competition. What I want to know is, did they teach her English?!

On a personal note, I've been transferred from Hanno to Tokorozawa, which is where I trained. I really like Hanno, because it's so small and friendly and I already know most of the students! But it takes me at LEAST an hour to get there and as I have to catch express trains, I sometimes end up getting there an hour EARLY just because the next express would only give me 10 minutes before the first class. Tokorozawa is in the same direction, but it takes me 30 mins at MOST. It's a much bigger, busier school - as you may have gathered from what I said about training - so it will be a bit of a shock, but I already know lots of people there from training and from home.

Copyright Ailsa Wylie 1999