Around the neighborhood 1
Mar 18 2009 12:58 | 15 Comments
On my 3rd day in Japan, after I got settled into my apartment I went for a photo-slash-exploration walk around the neighborhood. One of the cool things about Japan is that it isn’t like visiting say England or France where, not to knock on the English or the French, but everything is more or less the same as anywhere else other then the language. Obviously different food, slightly different architecture etc, but for the most part its all very similar, Japan on the other hand is just so different in just about every way possible.
One of the interesting things I saw on the corners all the small streets and outside of a lot of entrances to garages etc are these small convex mirrors to help you see what’s around the corner. Never saw them in the States, do they exist around your parts?
On garbage days when people put out their garbage, they do it all in a nice neat pile along the road at the designated area. More often then not that area has a net attached to something that people throw over the garbage so it doesn’t blow away.
Seems like every bit of free land there is between houses is used for a small garden.
Cool looking manhole cover. All the covers we have here in Michigan are just the standard boring ones with the mesh pattern. Any cool patterns on the covers where you live?
Found it interesting how a part of the bush is neatly cut out to show the sign next to the building. Maybe they put up the sign before planting the bushes?
I always took off my shoes when entering anyones home including my own, just seems like the clean thing to do. Not entirely sure why some people just walk around their house in the same shoes in which they stepped on some dog crap on the street. Was very pleased to see that literally everyone in Japan takes off their shoes before entering a home. However taking the shoes off before even entering the building... well, seems a bit excessive, no?
Another garbage bag area. All bags have nothing except empty plastic bottles.
Americans can’t build good looking small cars period. Always was jealous of the cool looking small cars from Europe and Japan. For example take this Toyota Ractis - just look at how damn pretty it is.
And just for comparison, lets take a look at this Chevy whatever-the-model, (one on the left) don’t remember the name off top of my head. But come on, how can you even imagine something that dreary looking.
An original Mini Cooper. Amazing how huge and bloated the new ones look when standing next to the original.
My Leopalace21 apartment building from another side.
And on that note, will end this post. I’ll post part 2 tomorrow. Just want to keep my posts at a reasonable length. Do you want the posts to be shorter, longer? or is this length good for you? Let me know and I’ll continue accordingly.
windstar
Hello Michael, seems like a very nice neighbourhood - we also have these mirrors here in Austria, they're pretty essential in our traffic system otherwise there'd be at least 10 crashes a day due to our streets being so small. Your post length seems just fine to me, there's plenty of information at a reasonable length. Excellent photographs, I really liked the original Mini Cooper. Please keep it up!
Ragnar
As windstar said, really nice neighborhood. Looks clean and friendly... though I guess most of Japan is like this. Love your pictures, really nice. About the mirrors - we don't have 'em here where I live but I've seen a couple of them in smaller cities. About your post length - it's good, though I myself would prefer a little longer ones. But, hey, I'm cool reading it the way you want us to read it. :) Keep it up!
joe
I never really take my shoes off before i go inside, I mean i would if i stepped in dog shit but not normally, guess I should start getting used to it ^^
Love the mini, such a classic british design. bloomin Germans own it now :(
I like posts this length, when people write large posts I usually just think cba and close the tab.
yamada
I like the where place where you live right now, the most cleanest neighborhood I must say. ^^
I don't mind if your posts are longer than this.
Michael Flux
@Joe,
You look at these old designs, then you look at Mini's latest models like the Clubman, and the new mini-SUV they're planning on releasing, and you really start to cry :(
@Yamada,
Sadly I'm not there at the moment, but am hopefully going to go back very soon! Just thought I'd share my photos and experiences to help me pass the time while I'm not there. And if other people enjoy reading my articles, all the better! ^_^
julio
More often then not that area... what? nice neigbour, y did u chose 2 go to nagoya instead of tokyo, osaka or sapporo?
Michael Flux
@julio
Should've probably said 'most of the time' instead. ^_^
Nagoya mostly because living there is so much cheaper then in Tokyo. Didn't really even think about Osaka when picking where to go, and Sapporo is a bit too far from everywhere else. Plus its quite a bit colder there.
Prometheus
Bigger is better :D
Me like me like!
Tibul
Bigger images for the win!
Moign Khawaja
Cool to see you liked Nihon...what a lovely place to be...nearly missed a chance to be there for 3 weeks this summer...
In Arabian/Indian culture, it is very rude to walk into the house with your shoes on. So we take our shoes off as a token of respect for our hosts. I say about both cultures as I'm a mix.
No concave mirrors in the UK at parking lanes. Just on sharp bends I've seen.
Very right about architecture in the UK. We make fun of the 'copy + paste' architecture. So bland and boring...Some say there was only one architect in the Kingdom who got killed by the king before he came up with another plan...
Michael Flux
@Moign Khawaja, Haha, wow :D Love that joke, I think I'll be laughing at that one for days ^_^
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