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Greenery.
A very short post. I think a lot of people think of Japan and picture huge cities, buildings as far as the eye can see, full of concrete and neon lights, masses of people, rushing.Which is not inaccurate for say, the constant activity of central Shinjuku, or the vastness of metropolitan Tokyo.However, even in the residential neighbourhoods of Tokyo it is a different story, let alone in prefectural capitals or regional cities or towns. The first place I lived in and considered home in Japan was Miyakonojo city.The population these days is somewhere around 160,000, however this feels a little bit inflated due to some surrounding towns having been merged…
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Local Summer Festival
I suppose there would have been no bad season for me to arrive in Japan. Everything was new to me and I would have found interesting events, discovered seasonal dishes and explored, whatever the season was.Nevertheless, Summer is my favourite season, and I soon discovered Summer festivals. As it turned out the first festival I went to was in a tiny neighbouring town, not in the small regional city I lived in.In the photo above is a traditional folklore kind of performance, unfortunately I have no further information. In both the photo above, and the photo below, flags of various countries can be seen. The festivals (apart from the small…
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My first Japanese apartment.
At first I went with the easy option and stayed in a company apartment.Given that I was moving to a new country, couldn’t speak the language, and wasn’t aware of how the accomodation system worked, this was a prudent decision.I feel like in so many aspects I was extremely lucky and somehow found myself in places and around people that suited me.Perhaps part of that may be due to “things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out”, but only partly due to this. The apartment was of a nice size, in good condition, in a nice area, with nice views. It was furnished…
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Riding the local train from Miyazaki to Miyakonojo.
The sky had been clear and blue during my stopover in Miyazaki, however as the train departed Miyazaki City, the sky had begun to cloud over.I had walked back to the station after seeing City Hall, however the train took me back past there and then over a river, Oyodo River, which runs from just within the prefectural border of Kagoshima near Miyakonojo, and ultimately empties into the Pacific Ocean at Miyazaki City. It’s of a decent width and is the main water body in Miyakonojo. In no time at all the train was click clacking through deep countryside. On the left is a smaller waterway, and, yes, in the…