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September 22, 2004
It's a small world after all...
Tanbara-cho is in a word, Inaka. It is small, it is country, and it is beautiful. Oh and they play "It's a Small World" everyday at the strike of noon. For those of you who saw the theme-park style map I received from the town office you can imagine just how hard I was laughing (yet with eyes full of horror) when I first heard this merry alarm.
On the flight from Tokyo to Shikoku. The mass of the foreigners gave the locals at the airport quite a shock. We were like so many orphans looking for our names written on the signs being waved by new parents. And then we were each whisked away by our new supervisors.
The view out the back of my teeny tiny apartment (Saiki Mansions...a bit of a miss-translation).
This is a view from a block behind my "mansion". Yes indeed, those are rice fields folks.
These drainage ditches may look friendly, but at night, in this town of few street lights, the ones without those lovely rail guards can prove to be deadly death traps of death, oh my. (Late at night as I peddle along on my standard issue granny-bike I can be heard chanting, don't fall in the ditch, don't fall in the ditch...)
Tanbara makes up for it's size with a whopping three temples. So take that!
Preparations for the big upcoming festival and o-bon dance.
A view from the front of the other Tanbara JET's "mansion". Say hello to Duncan, the only other English speaker in town. Thankfully he is a real charming goofball brit who keeps laughs rolling.
The sun sets early but it's worth the beautiful mountain silhouettes.
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Posted by theinfonaut at September 22, 2004 02:13 AM