Photographs from a small group of islands
Due to an allergy, and the fact that cats seem to sense this and sidle up just to set me off, I’m not the world’s biggest fan of felines — far from it in fact.
And somehow, these vindictive little beasts appear fully aware of these feelings too, although invariably the dislike on my part is doubled into what looks like loathing on theirs.
Rainy season really isn’t pleasant; not by any stretch of the imagination. It’s wet, obviously, but doubly so due to the rising humidity, making the words damp and dreary very much the order of the day.
Yet even on a particularly wretched morning, it’s hard to know if this man was a bit fed up due to the weather, work, or with someone taking his photo.
With this year’s crops now planted, it’s time for the mannequin head scarecrows to make another appearance. And once again they are doing what they do best.
Which is standing silently.
As well as staring.
Always staring.
Coming from a land where it’s often said that rules are meant to be broken, means living in Japan can sometimes be more than a little frustrating; a country where rules, regardless of their validity, are invariably adhered to.
And yet for all Japan’s inflexibility, when it comes to tobacco, it’s still pretty much anything goes in many places. Almost nostalgically so in fact.
Sure, many restaurants don’t allow smoking anymore, or at the very least have designated areas. Plus public buildings, train stations etc. are totally smoke free. But head just a little off the beaten track, away from the glitzy stores and chain restaurants, and it’s often a very different story indeed.
So much so that as even as a kid, when visibility on the top deck of a bus used to be down to a few feet because of all the smoke, I still don’t recall our butcher enjoying a ciggie as he served us.
When it’s hot and humid, walking around Tokyo can be extremely hard work — exhausting really. An endeavour that is only manageable due to an abundance of vending machines, and regular refuge in air-conditioned buildings.
But for little kids, the temperatures must seem even worse — something they simply can’t deal with. So what better way to see some trains,
or the sights of the city,
than by having your teacher take care of all the hard work?