deralte | Life in Japan - Part 1

Consider this a photo journal or some of the more interesting pics I've taken since moving to Japan. And appropriately enough, it's Culture Day here... Many small pics behind the cut.

The mirror near the corner of my apartment. My whole neighborhood is full of these mirrors because most streets are one way so you end up kinda wedging your car in random spaces in order to let other cars pass. (Either that or you end up playing very scary games of Chicken...)

This beautiful view with a factory in the background is probably the best depiction of Japan in a nutshell that you will ever see. It's the view towards the ocean (and Kyuushu) from a hill outside my apartment. Sometimes I go up there to watch the sunset and/or see if I can see the Kanmon bridge (which is a huge bridge connecting Honshu and Kyuushu). You can easily see it on a clear day.

The forest spirit is now currently guarding a cactus, since it seems that's the only plant I can actually keep alive.

This crazy mushi (bug) was on a plant outside my apartment. I still have no clue what it is, but I spent about a half hour watching it.

The park near by house during the Sakura festival. Image does not show the large number of drunken Japanese beneath the trees *g*

It's a bit old now, but this was my school entire complement of teachers as we got lost trying to find a club during a night out.

Proving the theory that not only can you make a fool of yourself doing karaoke here - you can get many drunk Japanese people to join in (to be fair, it was them who dragged us onto the stage). I'll leave it up to your imagination what we were singing (but it starts with 'like' and ends with 'virgin'). This is the inside of a Philipino Transvestive Bar btw. No transvestites are in the picture though.

Only five minutes from my apartment, there happens to be a kofun. I love the corbelling in the roof. And now you know what I keep wandering around Japan to see, though this one is awful small and a good example of the circular tomb building that characterized the later Kofun period, and... I'm going to shut up now.

Kirara beach is about a ten minute drive from my apartment. It's not always that pretty but it does have cool sea shells and is a good place to walk.

Right above Kirara is Ryuuouzan mountain (or Dragon King Mountain) which has a great view, the coolest playground I've ever seen (it's a huge jungle gym dragon) and looks beautiful during sakura season.

Walking down one of the prettier path's that leads down Ryuuouzan.

Ejio is a gorgeous park that's about twenty five minutes from my apartment. I try to go walk there whenever possible because they've set it up so that nearly every week there's new flowers blooming or something new to see.