Sunday, April 15, 2007

Warm White Sunday Night

Sorry for the long delay. We are going to cover a smattering of topics in this post.

It finally stopped snowing after a good 36 hours and now the ground is covered again. Will Spring ever come? I stayed confined indoors yesterday and got lots done but today did my rounds and went for a transcendental run at the Sports Center. I don't think I will be able to run again until next week so I went in knowing I should run long and hard. After 1h 40m I think my body will be paying for it tomorrow but I don't care because I have lots of time to recover.

There is a small factory that processes local vegetables most of the year that has been a hive of activity lately and I couldn't guess why. Today a large clue presented itself. One of Japan's famous speaker vans, with four loudspeakers wired to the top, was parked out front getting decked out in banners. I assume part of the building has been commandeered as use as a mayoral candidate's headquarters as we gear up for the last week of the campaign. I'm happy to be leaving Shikaoi on Wednesday for Hong Kong so I miss the speaker van's main mission of blaring the candidate's message.

Speaking of Hong Kong, the logistics are in place and now it's my turn to put into action all the details I have considered. The humidity was 85% today which reminds me of why I have vowed never to visit tokyo again in the summer. Thunderstorms are predicted for Tuesday, the day before I arrive, which makes me think it will cool down things on Wednesday. I was surprised how much rain Hong Kong gets in April: about 188mm. Which is nothing compared to its rainy season in August which tops out at 444mm. (Thanks Wikipedia!)

Lastly, a 5.4 earthquake hit Mie prefecture (just South of Osaka) today around lunch time. This means as the energy radiated out from the epicenter it was felt by some of the most densely populated areas of Japan (plus it was lunch time). It has thus monopolized most of the news today since millions and millions felt it.

No pictures of the snow. It's just depressing anyway.

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