Sunrise at 6am from my living room window. It looks kind of apocalyptic in picture, but it was stunning to wake up to this. Even my husband took a photo. Kind of the red, rising sun of the Japanese flag. You can make out the Ferris Wheel but unfortunately, there was no way to take this photo without the garbage incinerator. Each district has their own. The perk is all the heat they produce is used to heat up indoor pools, so in Tokyo, if you see one of these chimneys, there a wonderful public pool next door!
WEIRD NEWS from my side of the world:
Yesterday, saw a segment on rotting finger nails. Acrylic nails are very popular here and if they are not replaced once a month, your real nails could start to mold. Apparently, it's not that painful but ugly and if left alone for even longer, can be harmful.
Most dangerous is the drugstore kind you do yourself because they are not fitted right. The space between the fake and the real nail allows moisture and bacteria to bloom. I had to do a beauty story which almost required getting my nails done, but deadline was pending and we ran the story without the nails. I was kind of hoping to at least try it once. They do look very pretty though my friends warn that I would get very annoyed with all the typos from the long nails.
Another news item I found bizarre was in Osaka, a public preschool protested construction being done over their sweet potato patch. There were grown men throwing themselves on the ground, begging the public works guys to spare the dreams of small children. Mothers formed a human chain blockade. Tons of crying children. They were asking construction to be postponed for two weeks until the potatoes could be harvested. You would think I'd side with the kids, but no.
The mayor pointed out the notice was given last April as to when construction would begin. The school KNEW and yet refused to move the harvest day two weeks ago. The sweet potatoes looked fine on tv. Certainly two weeks later, they may be bigger but kids just like digging stuff up. I'd hate it if my kids went to that school and we'd have to protest something I didn't believe it. In Japan, you can't go against the majority opinion so we would still have to show up and stand at the back. The school is very upset at the city for taking back some land that they had been using for free for decades. The kids and the sweetpotato was used to make the mayor look bad. I didn't see it that way. The school could have "kept the dreams of children" alive by scheduling the potato picking ahead of construction, they DESTROY the dreams of children.
Japanese are radical farmers at heart. I've travelled all over the world, and with exception of Ben Gurion Airport in Jerusaleum, Narita has the most security. To enter the airport by car, bus or train, you have to get your bags briefly checked and show ID. The reason is that farmers protested the building of the airport violently when it was first built and bombs were thrown, injuring the construction workers!
