Men In Red N Bran Flakes

Well I've been back in Japan over two weeks now since my trip to Korea, must say it's quite nice to be back have got used to my little apartment over here, where i can just go and chill out after work and relax. I'm looking forward to going back to the UK at Christmas though, was hoping i could fit a trip in before then but won't be able to, work and all that.

looking forward to some good old English food when i get home, lots of people knock English food but i happen to like it, think if it's done right it's good. Problem is most tourists eat in pubs or places like that, nothing is home made in the majority of places it's all frozen and just doesn't do anything justice. The people cooking or preparing it are probably all worried about what they will do after work rather than cooking, but there again you can't do a lot with a frozen meal just zap it and serve it. Anyway the word goes forth English food is not the best and it gets a bad reputation, that's my opinion anyway for what it's worth, but you know what they say about opinions, everybody got one. It's a bit like the stereo type of the UK where it rains everyday, i know it rains a lot but not everyday, or have i just been away too long.

It's not that there's anything wrong with Japanese food just the opposite it's good, just different to ours and i guess like anything you tend to like what you grew up with or at least miss it a bit when you're away for a long time so a nice plate of roast beef and YP wouldn't go amiss right now, a full English Breakfast would go down well as well to say the least or at least a bacon butty.

Changing the subject from food to driving just like that, when i first got here it thought all the drivers were great, been here a while now I'm not so sure. Driving standards here are good the thing that really gets me though is how slow everybody drives out on the road or turns into a entry or round a corner, not that i want to be racing around but there's slow and there's slow if you know what i mean. Everyone seem so cautious when driving here well at least the 99.8% of the drivers I've come across on the roads in Utsunomiya are, the other .2% are just nut's, not really but at least they drive faster.

The biggest thing to watch out for here is pedestrian crossings though, they're all right at cross roads or junctions and i mean right at the corner, so for instance when the traffic light to go straight turns green the pedestrian crossing lights on the left and right fork of the cross roads turn green at the same time. So if you're turning left for instance and not going straight on you turn onto a pedestrian crossing that's green for go, people just walk or ride out onto the crossing in font of you with out a care in the world as soon as it goes green. It's not like in the UK when you use a crossing you still look, well at least i do can't relay on British drivers to stop for a Zebra crossing now can we. Here though everyone seems to have blind faith that the drivers will see them and stop what trusting souls. This crossing thing took me a bit of getting used to, nearly cleaned a few people up when i first got here as i wasn't used to it. All in all the way crossings work here seems like a bit of stupid system if you ask me, but it works and when in Rome as they say do as the Romans do or in the case Japanese. Guess this is why everyone seem to take so long turning corners all being really cautions and watching for those pesky pedestrians, problem is everyone really slow when there's no crossing in sight, course it could be that i just drive too fast.

It's starting to get quite busy at work now, in fact i worked last Saturday and Sunday and that's the first time I've done that since being in Japan. Check out this photo though have been driving past these guys everyday on the way to and from work ever since I've been here, have always been meaning to stop and take a photo of them but never got round to it. Going past the other day though i noticed that their caps and stuff had been changed, it had always been red but the old stuff had faded to pink and now it's bright red again, so just had to stop and take a piki.

Not exactly sure what they are or why they are there but as you can see they are all doing something or holding something different so i assume there is a reason for this but don't know what it is. You see these guys a lot at grave yards, they're always dressed in red stuff, dressed to kill or to die should i say, some kind of a religious thing I'm sure, don't know why the red either though, will look it up when i have time.

Went to get my hair cut again yesterday, don't know what's going on but i seem to be getting it cut shorter and shorter, next stage is a shave. Went to a different barbers this time asked for the same size clippers but they seemed to cut it shorter to me, but do like easy maintenance, haven't used a comb since I've been here.

Barbers sort of reminded me of an American barber shop not that i know what one would be like just what i have seen on TV. Anyway walked in the shop there was about 10 chairs for punters and what seemed about 20 people cutting hair, everyone sort of looked up and chorused hello at the same time i walked it's sort of strange but seems to be the norm over here when you walk in a shop. Anyway as soon as i walked after the hello chorus i was shown to a chair, had three people do a bit on my hair, first guy did the cutting then another one came up and gave me a shave the last guy sort of did the finishing off and checking sort of fine tuning so to speak, finishing off with a neck shave and cutting the hairs in my ears thank you very much. The whole thing cost me 1430 Yen about 8 quid at today EX rate, not bad but it cost a little more then the little old lady who cut it last time, but there again i did have three people work on me. Here's a photo of the back of my head, trying to spare everyone the front view after complaints last time, short ain't it..

Also been out shopping today looking for a gas grill to finish off my kitchen, trying to find a second hand one but not having much luck. I'll probably have to bite the bullet and buy a new one even though it goes against the grain, it's not like they're real expensive about 100 quid new but if i can get one for twenty that's even better. I'm either going to have to throw it out or give it away when i leave like most of the things I've bought for the apartment so no point wasting money is there. Like i say not had much luck at the second hand places so probably will get a new one much to my disgust but i least i should be able to do some cooking, did buy a few cheapo utensils at the 100Yen store though in preparation for when i get it.

That's it for tonight going to make myself a cup of char and get to bed, got to get to work early in the morning unfortunately.

Oh one other discovery i made the other day food wise, thought i would go and buy some cereals for breakfast. Decided to get some bran flakes, Kellogg's bran flakes to be precise, so off i pop to my favorite supermarket to get them. Next day for breakfast open the pack and I'm looking forward to some cereals for a change, well knock me down with a wet piece of Sushi they were coated in sugar and tasted more like Frosties than Bran Flakes. It was a bit of a shock to the old system that first mouthful you know when you're expecting one taste and get another, guess Japanese people like sweet things. I've never come across sugar coated bran flakes before though but obviously I've led a very sheltered life up to now.