Junked truck in rice field, Toda (Saitama). August 22, 2003. Mamiya 645, Ilford FP4 Plus (125 ASA).
Truck in rice field
A cheap sushi night out for the family
We went to the local branch of the cheap “conveyor belt” sushi family restaurant chain known as Kappa Sushi last night. It seemed like the whole town had the same idea as it was packed. Naoko said it was on account of the heat (no one, including my mother-in-law, apparently wanted to spend anytime in the kitchen) and that it was the last day of summer vacation for some folks.
The Kappa Sushi chain of sushi restaurants is about as low on the totem pole of sushi restaurants as you can go, every plate is 100 yen, the staff are exclusively high school students whose high-pitched voices fill the loudspeakers, there are way too many kids running around, and the sushi is, well, fairly pedestrian. I suspect most folk would say the sushi is barely edible. If you tell other Japanese you went to Kappa Sushi, they usually respond down their noses with derision. But frankly the place suits me just fine. With four mouths to feed (Kaika for now just a spectator, as the above photo shows), the price is right, and honestly, for me the sushi is just fine. Their draught beer hits the spot dead on too.
(A few more photos, all taken with the cellphone, are here.)
Uchimizu
Today at noon there was an environmental experiment called “The Oedo Uchimizu”, whereby Tokyo residents were encouraged to water the sidewalks and streets of their city in an attempt to bring down the temperature.
Uchimizu is an old Japanese custom which, as the project’s website explains,
[…] is a […] well-known example of the use of water in Japan’s daily living. People sprinkle water, especially in the summer time, in their house entrances and gardens or in front of their shops to lay the dust or to ease the heat.
The idea is that if enough people were to simultaneously do this, the city’s temperature would decrease by a couple of degrees. To promote recycling, participants were asked to use rainwater or old bathwater, rather than water from the tap. Although we live in Saitama (prefecture to the north of Tokyo), Naoko felt compelled to take part in this event.
I had been unaware of this old practice until Naoko told me about it, but now I’ve been noticing that among some, it’s still quite a common thing to do. The other day while wandering around Tokyo University’s Hongo campus, I saw a security guard watering the asphalt around his post with a huge tea kettle, as if he were watering plants.