A Short Post

I was awoken this morning about 2 am by my iPhone going off with a klaxon sound.  Another J-Alert message.  As I turned to check my phone I groggily thought to myself, "What have the North Koreans done this time?".  As it turned out, the alert was a mudslide warning.  Our region was experiencing heavy rains thanks to Typhoon No. 21 which was skirting the eastern coast of Honshu in the vicinity of Fukushima and southern Miyagi prefectures.  These heavy rains had in turned increased the odds of mudslides taking place in the mountainous areas on the outskirts of town.

I checked the news at lunchtime and read an article about yesterday's general election.  Prime Minister Abe's side had won a "super majority" of two thirds of the seats in the lower house of Japan's Diet.  Ah...landslide...mudslide...interesting coincidence....

One more thing....Happy Halloween.  A bit early but heck, Halloween decorations have been up in stores since mid-September over here.  The stickers featured in the photo below are imports from Canada, courtesy of my mother and sister. (^_^)

Psst! Wanna buy some rice paddy fish?

Last month I unfortunately (from the perspective of my attempt to cut back spending) registered an account on the Yahoo! Japan auction website.  After a month I've built up the will power not to hit the button on everything that tickles my fancy.  I've resorted to using the button instead.  After all, I just want to see what prices people are willing to pay for some of the stuff that gets flogged on the site.

One auction I didn't bid on was one for a pair of fish.  Live fish.  Specifically, rice paddy fish, which are known as "medaka".  Okay.  That took me a few seconds to get over my initial disbelief.  I checked the description of the "product" and it stated that the fish were six months-old.  I see.  So someone really was selling live fish on an auction site.

A bit more checking revealed that there is a fair amount of interest in breeding these fish.  The goal is to breed more colourful varieties.  Some breeds are in the "glowfish" branch of fish keeping.  Myself, I haven't kept fish in a home aquarium since my early university days.  So the idea of "glowfish" was a bit too newfangled for me to wrap my mind around.  I don't believe the fish actually glow in dark.  Instead, they're one of several bright neon-like colours which do not occur naturally on fish.  As a fish, it may be okay to bright coloured if you're swimming around a coral reef but probably not very advantageous in a rice paddy.

-*-

...Yes.  For ¥2000, plus delivery charges, you too could take a chance on getting a pair of live fish delivered to your home.  I don't think you'd get any compensation if one or both were to die in transit.

Makes Me Feel Old....

I took my car in for its biannual car inspection.  It's a government requirement and most people view it as a means to try and get older cars off the road (the inspection costs increase as ones car ages).  Anyways, I opted to get a courtesy car this time and has handed the keys to a Daihatsu Move Canbus...well, actually I was handed the remote key that unlocks the door.  There's no physical metal key attached to the unit.

When the fellow from the dealership walked me through how to start up the car and use the remote control I felt a bit out of place.  The car's engine is started with the press of a button: put pressure on the brake pedal and push the "Start" button (gosh...writing that makes this sound like a review of the latest version of Microsoft Windows).  I commented to the fellow "Sorry if I sound like some old man trying to get my head around the car...".

I sussed out on the weekend when I got a ride up to Yamagata why I've recently heard so many car engines being started up when the light goes green at intersections.  Most new cars have an auto-idling feature.  Once the on-board computer senses the car is stopped and the brakes are engaged, it shuts the engine off.  The courtesy car I got has the same feature.  I've noticed it's quite sensitive.  The computer won't shut the engine off until one has come to a complete stop and stepped on the brake pedal firmly.  Interesting....

Postscript:  A photo of the above mentioned Daihatsu Move Canbus.

Son of the "Carpet Monster"....

The "carpet monster" is a term which pops up every now and then in online forums frequented by model kit makers, especially those who make things in small scales.  It is a reference to that floor covering which consumes and refuses to regurgitate small pieces of model kits which drop, fly off, or disappear through some combination of physics, poor motor control of ones digits, and shear dumb luck.

In my case I no longer have a carpet to deal with.  I deal with a linoleum floor covering.  One would think that the odds of recovering small model kit pieces are considerably higher when dealing with such a flooring.  Alas, such is not the case.  After recently losing two small, but critical, pieces to the model ship pictured above, I broke down and decided to order a replacement sprue of parts.

When I was living in Canada I never got to take advantage of the damaged/missing parts service offered by Japanese model companies.  Their instruction sheets make it clear that it's not available to overseas customers with a "Japan only" warning on the parts order from.  Less generous than the English companies.  I once had a problem when I was around 10 years of age with a model of a Fairy Swordfish torpedo bomber kit whereupon the wing struts had broken off of their sprues and I couldn't tell which part was which.  I filled out the form listing the considerable number of mixed up parts and sent it to the manufacturer in England (I suspect it was the Matchbox Company but it could've been Airfix).  They sent me a whole new model kit as a source of replacement parts at no charge.  Solved the problem quite effectively.

This time around I wasn't so lucky.  I filled out on an online parts order request and got a reply outlining the costs of it to me.  The parts sprue itself is ¥700.  They added in a ¥300 handling fee.  Then they tacked on a ¥500 shipping fee.  The grand total of ¥1,500 is 8% less than what I paid for the whole kit...that 8% being the rate of Japan's "consumption tax" - a sales tax.  I suppose I ought to stick to losing parts from more expensive kits....

Not Again....

My iPhone went off with a klaxon sound this morning.  I snapped awake and glanced at the screen.  It was an alert informing everyone that North Korea had launched a missile.  "Go indoors or underground" was the instruction given in the message.  If only there was such a thing as underground in this city.  So I crawled out of my futon and headed into the dining room.  At least it has a corner which isn't in the direct line of an outside facing window or sliding door.  Then I measured my blood pressure and heart rate.  Blood pressure was not too bad but my heart rate was notably high...then it dropped on the second measurement I took.  I don't know...this isn't my idea of excitement on a Friday morning....

So Much For Summer....

Well.... Summer has come and gone.  This year's summer was a bit of cool and soggy affair.  So I didn't do a heck of a lot.  I did attend a local Obon-odori (Obon is that time in Japanese tradition where it is believed that the souls of the deceased pay a visit to our mortal realm.  The "odori" portion is from a Buddhist tradition.) and for the first time in decades, actually participated in a dance.  I also made a couple of quick trips to Sendai to renew my visa.  Aside from that, I spent the summer slowly cleaning up my apartment, getting a bit of exercise on my bicycle, and taking in a handful of movies at the local cinema.  And of course there was my friend's yukata party which accounted for the one time I wore my yukata this past summer.

The defining moment of my summer was the night I received an e-mail from Canada advising me that my father had passed away.  I didn't get any sleep after that and it goes to say that the next few days were a bit of a train wreck.  It's strange but right now I just don't have anything I want to say other than "It happened".

The Dragon Next Door

Well, actually it's a crane.  But when I woke up and looked out my window one morning, the top of it definitely looked like a dragon's head.  This photo doesn't quite capture the image but it'll have to do for now....

Anyways, construction has started on the new ten story apartment building which will be built next door.  It's going to take 18 months for it to be completed.  I guess I can look forward to lot more shade in the future.

Since the property was denuded of trees last fall, there are no cicadas this year to serenade us.  For a short while there was a small colony of Japanese tree frogs in some puddles next door.  Or perhaps they were toads.  Either way, the creatures let their mating calls loose in the wee hours of the morning.  They were quite loud...to the point where they could just barely keep a person awake.  But they're gone this week.  More equipment and material has been moved onto the property and some bulldozer work was done also.  So I guess all the amphibians have made good their escape.

I've seen the architect's drawings of the new building and it doesn't look like there will be any green space on the property once construction is completed.  It'll just be a concrete tower with everything else around it paved to serve as parking spaces.  So the chances of hearing any animal or insect sounds from next door in the future seem quite minimal....