I came across a photo in Japan Today that threw me back aways to my old life in Japan. Once a week I would haul a large plastic rubbish bag up the street and deposit it in a little netted-off alcove by the side of the road to await the dump truck. There was always an allotted time for this ritual. It could not be done the night before, even if one was away or indisposed. Previous teachers told me that their one and only attempt at this had been met with a returned bag. Someone had gone to the trouble of rifling through the contents to find a clue to the owner and naturally the foreigners were to blame.

It was kind of a pleasant chore and a way of catching up with otherwise reclusive neighbours, if only to say good morning. The team below are from Toyohashi, though given the ubiquity and uniformity of things in Japan, they could just as easily have been from Sanda.



And lo, by the miracle of Google Earth, here indeed is that very Mukogaoka rubbish alcove.