Today at lunch the kids realised that I am practically a walking dictionary when it comes to English words that they don't know and the whole time while we were eating they kept asking me what all the food was called in English. Trouble was that most of the food we ate today was actually Western in origin and so when they asked me "What's potato chipusu in English?" They were invariably disappointed to hear it was almost exactly the same. I was trying to explain that the foods generally keep their title from the country of origin, we don't call sushi "raw fish rolled in rice" just like they don't have Japanese names for Coke or hamburger. At least todays dessert was an improvement on yesterday's quarter of a lemon; we had icecream wrapped in mochi which is an absolutely revolting white substance made out of beans (I think, I hate it so much I am loathe to waste any of my time actually finding out how it's made). That little dessert is Japan in a nutshell for me; the great part is completely innaccessible without labouring through the rather horrid exterior.
Last night I went for a walk over the hill and far away and ran into the ocean! Well, more of a sea really, but I didn't realise Kamogata was this close to the water. I also got pounced on by 2 kittens while reading the Yoroshima town map. They were so cute and clearly very hungry (or very good actors, which I could easily believe because such is the craftiness of cats) and I wanted to take em home. But thought they were probably disease ridden already and besides which, where would I put them? So I left them to their inevitable fate of being run over by cars or eaten by stray dogs. There are so many stray cats around here, but I am yet to see a stray dog... must be because the Japs are obsessed with dogs. There is a massive industry in this country that simply caters for dogs; clothing, food, grooming. I saw a shop once where you could buy yourself and your dog matching outfits, including shoes. This kind of hilarity is the icecream part of Japan.
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