The sights you see

When we're out and about in japan, we often see interesting sights. One of the fun things of being in a country where people travel a lot on foot, bike, and by public transport is that you see more of people's lives than you do in countries where people load everything in their car and drive around. For example, the other day after church we saw a man pushing a double bass along a road on a trolley. 

Another factor are houses without large yards to hide things, so you see things outside the front of a house that you probably wouldn't in more spread-out countries. Here's a somewhat random collection of photos from the last several months of driving/riding around.

Here's a confusing intersection. Not only do the signs have way too many arrows, look at the traffic signals!

I told you it was random. Here were some beautiful rock formations we drove past on our camping trip (west coast of the Noto peninsula, for those who want to know)

We drove 2,000 km on our camping trip. I can't tell you how many tunnels we drove through, but "dozens" would probably be the best way to describe it. On some roads we barely seemed to get out of a tunnel before we were back in one again.

This was a curious jacket we happened upon not far from home.

Lots of people in Kyoto on a late Saturday afternoon.

This one was local, but not unusual. This two-way road is too narrow to have a footpath/sidewalk/pavement. Instead there is a white line drawn on the road. If you were dependent on a wheeled pusher, would you use this road to get around? Probably this lady didn't have any other options.

Washing hung out to dry and shoes on the fence, just a couple of metres off a major road.

Thin houses are common.

This photo I took in the car park of a camping shop. One of these is ours. I think we fit in pretty well, don't you? Until we put our camping gear on top covered by a blue tarp!

There is a propensity to the cute in Japan, as you probably know. It isn't uncommon to see cute logos. This dentist even has two animal statues outside the clinic.

This was probably once cute, but it is now just sad. These poor two Miffies are terribly soiled.

Today we drove past this house with stuffed toys stuffed in the fence. I'm not sure why, but surely they'll soon end up like the Miffies above?

Yes, the below photo is as seen. The Japanese language works fine in three directions. Top to bottom and right to left and left to right. So they have no problem with messing with English, though I think the below is supposed to be seen in a mirror. I think it would be the lucky person who could catch sight of this truck in their mirror!

Whenever we go to Costco we drive past this apricot coloured restaurant. I find the name of it rather intriguing: "Flying Garden". I'm not sure if I'd be game to go in!

Another common sight: mums riding with their children on the way home from kindergarten with all the various bags the kids need strung off the back of the child seat. I have to say, though, that these seats are a whole lot safer than when we first bought one in 2001, back then there were no headrests. The only seat you could buy was waist high.

This is representative of many homes in Tokyo. With little garden space, the metre or so between house and fence is often filled with garden. I love how they make the most of every little space.

Again, drying washing wherever you can. This was a commercial property and also just off a major road.

These amazing "time" capsules are often seen riding around. They cover the child seats, protecting them from rain and also cold wind. I sometimes look at them in summer and think the kids must be roasting, though.