Dec 16, 1890 (M23) marks the start of phone service between Tokyo and Yokohama with 155 and 44 phones respectively. The 7 female operators (with 2 males on night shift) could connect you for 240K JPY in today’s money. 🇯🇵📞
Destruction of the ancestral “jikka” home under tarps, 2019. 📷🇯🇵
A program in place since 1906 in Japan, Dec 15-25 marks the period during which you can post a 年賀状 “nengajo” postcard for Jan 1 arrival. 🇯🇵🏣📷
Empty Tokyo restaurant. 📷⏳
Maru the Shiba came back from day care and the staff who drove him said he and other Shibas hadn’t pooped. A border collie friend kept running up like “hey! Whatcha doing!? Any good smells there?” causing poopus interruptus. 😂🐕
Dec 13 marks the formal start in Japan of 正月事始め(shougatsu-goto-hajime) when the Big Tidy activities start and it’s off to the mountains to get 門松 (kadomatsu) materials. 🎍🇯🇵
Bean bun boogie, Shinbashi Tokyo. 📷🧆
Alien traffic safety mascot approaches. 📷👽
Dec 11 is International Mountain Day, a day to think on our impact on vital mountain ecosystems. I wish I was hiking today! 🏔️📷
Scaffolding went up before the old “jikka“ ancestral home was torn down. Four years ago already! 📷🏡
Yesterday our 大掃除 “ohsouji” or “Big Tidy” task was replacing the ugly brown mats we’d laid downstairs with nice wood-like flooring. Took all day & was really hard, but looks good & we can use the heated floor. 💦
8000 US $ per hour?! Wow.
This weekend is 大掃除 “ohsouji” or the “Big Tidy” as I like to call it, where the nooks and crannies get so clean even Marie Kondo blushes. If you’re not in Japan, do you do this? 📷🇯🇵🧽🧹
Udagawa Yu-sui-chi is a little nature conservation area near a park we take Maru the Shiba to almost daily. You can’t go down into it but you can peer at it to see birds. 📷🦆
Dec 9 is International Anti-Corruption Day. Corruption follows and causes conflict globally, and is inherently undemocratic. It’s worth your thoughts and fight! 🤛
Snaps of a Hillman in Higashi Azabu, 2016.
Japan marks Dec 8 as “Start of the Pacific War Day” although we don’t really hear about it that much. May all those who died at Pearl Harbor and after, rest in peace. 😔
RIP Norman Lear whose work shaped my childhood. 101! Such influence; a life well lived. 🖤🤍
Dec 7 is World Kamishibai Day! It’s the art of telling a story to children while showing cards mounted in a box, popularized in Japan in the 1930s. Have you seen it or something similar? 🇯🇵👩👩👧👦
23andMe confirmed the leak of 6.9 million users’ ancestry data. That’s just stunningly bad. You’d think they’d have superior cyber security but no, they’re only just now getting around to requiring 2FA. 😱