The Mean Streets of Sakai

AM

Least: Sometime between 2:00am and 3:00am, I woke groggily from my less than sleepy slumber. The night was silent except for the drone of a flight of pigeons that had decided to rest on the roof next door for the night. The pigeon problem has slightly diminished, however I suspect that the local flying rat chapter is planning a comeback. They were still there at 8:00am when I got out of bed. How boring for them.

Most: At nearly 11:00am, I felt the extremely unsettling sensation of actually missing the television. Despite earlier reports on this blog, I craved a half and hour or so of utter crap to help fill in the gaps of my morning. I have also sensed a gathering distance from everyday Japanese life and the ongoing courtcase of Noriko Sakai. It is amazing to think that an utterly vacuous stream of information could get addictive. I will resist for now and not pay my NHK bill as a reward.

PM

Least: Just after 3:15pm, I groaned again as the scrubbers from a nearby high school, flitted into my train carriage. Despite their Japanese flavour, they had all of the boring characteristics of bogans from the Melbourne suburbs. The general look included badly dyed hair, inches of make-up, dirty looks towards other girls and incredibly short skirts. Each of them could have easily fitted in to any notorious school a person could name. I wonder what their mothers think?

Most: Between 8:00pm and 8:40pm, I spoke to one of my regular students about living in Sakai city. Being from the north of Osaka, she viewed Sakai as an unrelenting hellhole. Her paranoia even extended to a fear of murderers lurking in the backstreets at night. Sakai is famous for its knives so maybe she has a point. Her fear of crime seems to be duplicated throughout Osaka to the extent that there are areas such as Shinsaibashi where some Japanese fear to tread. She also informed my that gangsters were easy to spot because they all have golden hair. I wonder how she would go on the slightly meaner streets of Melbourne?