This is a hive of humanity that I pass on my way to the station every day. I’m always impressed by the efficient little microcosmic living spaces humans create. Every single one of those windows has someone’s life story going on inside every day.

There’s this little “hamburg” joint in Shinjuku called Gold Rush. See, in Japan, they have something called a hamburg, which is different from a hamburger in that it doesn’t come on a bun. They bring it out on a sizzling griddle and you have to hold up your napkin defensively while they pour the gravyish sauce on your burgs. Andy and I have taken a liking to this place, and when his wife came up from Hamamatsu we went here for lunch. For some reason the last time we were there I found this upper corner of the store interesting. It’s not just the Pepsi sign, either.

I find this little bit of text to be pretty charming. If for some reason you haven’t yet visited [engrish.com][1], now is the time. [1]: http://www.engrish.com

This little kid was leaning on the green webbing and staring at all the passersby for a really long time.

Some people have asked what kind of camera I use. It’s just this dinky little one, but I really like it. I found its buttonless interface to be pleasantly Mac-like.

This was taken during my Japanese Women’s History class. Maybe I shouldn’t be taking photos during class, but you can’t tell me this isn’t pretty.

Check out Japanese money. Weird, eh? Actually US money seems really weird to me now. I haven’t seen any of it since coming here, except for a small pile that Kiyoshi has on top of his TV. US Quarter, Dime, Nickel, and Penny; Japanese 50-, 10-, 5-, and 1-Yen coins.

Maybe you’ve heard about juku, or “cram schools”. Basically they’re schools that you go to after school, in order to study for extremely difficult entrance exams and such. They’re a pretty good example of how Japanese people are ridiculously hard workers. Well, Kiyoshi’s sister, Mii-san, goes to one, and we got to come inside while she picked up her stuff one day. Here’s what the classroom looks like. In retrospect, I wish I’d gotten a shot of the one that actually had people studying inside.

Kiyoshi, being the cool hombre that he is, invited me back for his school festival in Mishima. During the same weekend, though, the Daidogei World Cup was being held in Shizuoka City. It’s a big festival of street performances and such from around the world. Kiyoshi, his sister Mitsue (Mii-san), and I went to check it out. The most spectacular of the performances that we saw was this woman Jane from England who did a fine trapeze act.