I took a walk in our neighborhood quite a while back to clear up my mind, process the year so far and relax. In the midst of a pretty heated board meeting in my head debating if my recent sushi consumption could actually harm my health and put me at risk for mercury poisoning from the, well, quite healthy amounts of maguro I had consumed recently,  I turned a corner… and what did I see?! A huge whale with obvious super-powers, protruding through the concrete and cement pavement, ready to make a leap to freedom. The thing was taller than me.

I ran away scared. Nah. just kidding. But I did continue my walk. I have been in Japan for a couple of years, and it is easy to forget all the little things that makes this city awesome. Like overgrown greens in residentiary neighborhoods and the mandatory collection of bicycles parked outside every single house. And the clutter. Omg, the clutter. If you have ever read design books about clean and minimalistic Japanese design, I can tell you – they are lying through their teeth. There is a lot of clutter around here.

I discovered an abandoned park. The clock was still working. So were the mosquitos. They were working overtime. I left the park with less blood in my body and five, fancy new huge mosquito-bites on my legs. I have unsuccessfully tried to start a new trend here half the summer with the slogan “mosquito-bites are the new black”. I wonder why that never caught on. They are both inexpensive and readily available to anyone who wants one. Or fifteen. And a lot of people are sporting them here.

No space for a garden, you say? No problem. Just build a vertical one on your wall. Problem solved. Since this is Japan, nobody will steal your potted plants anyway. I ended my walk with the mandatory girl-takes-pictures-of-their-feet-image. I then decided to down-vote the board’s decision about possibly lowering the abnormally large sushi consumption, and headed straight for the kaiten sushi.