it's not life that matters but the journey...

Okay - I finally updated my computer so that when I write, it will accurately show the time here in Japan.

today's subject is NOISE.  After living in quiet, peaceful Port Angeles, Washington for about six months, coming to Japan has been a shock to my aural senses.  At least two or three times a day here, ambulances go by, and the siren is accompanied by a voice over the speaker politely asking cars to get out of the way.  This would really be a good idea in the states since I've seen cars (in Chicago, not Port Angeles) blatantly ignore ambulances or fire trucks.  For some crazy reason, Japanese love to use loudspeakers to get across their information and ideas. Perhaps because it is unavoidable that way.  When I was living in Japan several years ago, I was in a small town.  Every morning and every afternoon, announcements came from the town hall - speakers are set up all over the smaller towns in Japan.  The announcements in my town, so I'm told, were for children telling them to go directly home from school.  Also, there were announcements for events, typhoons, and other things. Since I've come to Fuji, I've heard them too.
Around 9 p.m. one night we heard a voice announcing that there was a fire somewhere in the area.  And another night, after 10 p.m., the police were announcing on the loudspeakers that someone was missing.  Kind of like the "Amber Alert" in the U.S., they are letting people all over the city know that someone is missing, or if the person has been found.  the same announcement came around 7:30 a.m. the following morning.  The intention is good - people can look after each other this way.  You can't avoid the information if it comes into your room without your turning on the television or the radio.  People use the loudspeaker system to advertise business from their cars, and politicians use the same system (loudspeakers from cars) rather than the annoying television ads we have to watch in the states.  Which is more annoying, though, I ask you?  Oh, and young boys on motorcycles love to noisily rev up their engines late at night - in the states they would be stopped, but here, like many other things, its just tolerated!

I will leave you with one more great example of misused English.  At the checkout in a big store called Espot (which is kind of like Target or Walmart) there were several products for smokers (smoking is a topic I'll get to in another post).  One of these products was for holding cigarettes, and it was called:  TABACON Holder.  Okay, maybe its just a misspelling - it kind of looks like tobacco, but do they realize they've actually created a product for holding your pork?  I wonder why they insist on using English words if they can't get them right?  it is great entertainment, though, and for that I thank the Japanese!!  there was another product next to this one called SHOTGUN, which purported to remove the tar and nicotine from your cigarettes.  great, but then why not just quit?  Hmmmmmmm