Andrew + Japan = Awesome

Last week I went to Aeon (the large mall on the outskirts of Sanda, technically in Kobe) because I needed a cable for my computer. I got my cable and went to the bus stop to wait for the bus. I waited. And waited. And waited. And no bus came. It was quite a nice day, not too hot, and I could see Flower Town from where I was sitting, so I decided to walk home instead of catching the (late) bus.

As I said, I could see Flower Town, so naturally I headed in that direction. What I didn’t account for was the fact that between me and Flower Town was a vast expanse on untamed wilderness, with no roads. This proved to be quite the barrier. After wandering aimlessly down roads for around twenty minutes I found myself in quite a strange environment.

I had somehow wandered into a new sub division being built. As I looked around, almost every house had some form of construction being done on it. As if that wasn’t enough, the houses were truly packed in as tight as could be, and were all either totally mismatched, or identical. There was no middle ground. Either a street was crazy and mismatched. Or a street was uniform and identical.

After walking these strange, strange streets for a while I was working up quite a thirst. Luckily for me, in addition to being the craziest neighborhood I’ve gone to in Japan, it also had conveniently placed vending machines, right between the houses.

I don’t know what I would have done if the vending machine hadn’t been there. Perhaps I would have had to resort to drinking from this conveniently placed lake.

I briefly wondered if the houses on the end paid more for their lakeside property and the stunning views they can claim.

I think the strangest thing about these houses was that they were so normal. They were like houses back in New Zealand, but with no property. Normally when I see crammed in Japanese houses it’s in an old part of town, and the buildings have walls touching each other. It’s like one solid building down the side of the road. But these ones, were all standalone houses with a modest garden or gravel area outside separating them. Quite peculiar.