js 2 other perspectives on where we lived

Finding someone's house in Japan is not so difficult, though you must first get used to the fact that very few streets have names. For example, our house was 2-11-16 Mukogaoka, the latter being a town (or suburb) within the city of Sanda. The '2' designates the district (chome) within that suburb, the '11' the island(or block) of houses to which we belonged, and the '16' was our actual house number. I'm sure that you can find our house on the 'chome' guide above.

Strangely enough, Japanese friends and students often got lost looking for our place, even when they had a car navigation system!

japanese series: Our house in Sanda.

I've decided to drop the politics and society for a while (about time-ed.) and focus on a series based upon some the pics I took last time in Sanda. Maybe they'll even have a little coherent commentary, but I can't promise that!

First things first. Here is where we lived in Sanda, a smallish town to the north of Kobe in Hyogo, Japan. We spent three years all up living and working at this address. It's the house on the left in front of the silver van with the sign on the wall. Gosh I've got some fond memories of that place!

the new mood

A little over two weeks have passed since the Howard Government met its maker, and already there is a change of mood abroad. It's as if a load has been lifted from the collective backs of all Australians, or at least thinking Australians. The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified, the 'Pacific Solution' is being dismantled and the PM is already talking of a sorry (yes, a real sorry, heartfelt and genuine, not just a legalistic regret) to the 'Stolen Generations' of Aboriginal people. I really feel like the nation is moving forward, the ridiculous culture wars of the Howard era (yes, already an era) put behind us, the hectoring moralisms of Howard and Abbott sunk into a pit of concrete, the endless genuflections to Washington, ended. I hope.

What I would like to see is a country which re-embraces its international obligations at all levels, works as an active participant to solve problems and understands that the global and the local are linked. At home I want a Government that governs competently and compassionately, not eschewing 'tough love', but reinventing it.

And please, can we have a little less talk about matters economic, and a little more about the quality of life, our shared future and even, yes, a little bit of the vision thing.