The Battle for Bread

AM

Least: Just after 11:00pm, I listened in horror as the music of the rubbish truck faded into the distance. With no stinking bags of garbage left on the street it was clear that I had missed my chance to get rid of mine. Missing a 'household garbage' pick up can often mean having to live with a bag of food scraps and paper festering for a few days. Thankfully, in one small mercy, the tiny blue bin downstairs was empty, so I filled it.

Most: At 9:20am, I was struck by the cool temperature of the water coming out of the bathroom tap. For months, the water had been tepid enough to allow me to shave straight from the tap. I think the time has now come to return to filling the basin with warm water from the kettle and for some reason there is no hot water tap. I just want to know why they installed all the pipes in this building on the houtside with no insulation.

PM

Least: Some time around 4:00pm, Rosie and I began watching the Detroit Metal City movie based on the manga of the same name. The story centres around a young man who lives a double life between a complete dork and a crazed death metal vocalist. While the comic is very confronting, with shocking language, violence, male-male rape and treatment of women, the movie was simply painful. The shrill voices of the actors and the bad use of janglish swearing made it almost impossible to watch. In fact, I couldn't watch it any longer and had to evacuate.

Most: At close to 5:00pm, I decided to salve my pain from the Detroit Metal City movie by baking bread. The process was an experiment, because I was unsure as to the properties of Japanese flour and that I don't have a real oven. I chose a very basic recipe to minimise any disasters. After about and hour of kneading and rising, I shaped the dough into rolls and sent into the infernal reaches of a toaster oven (right). as I stared into to red glow, I could see the bread rising and browning, then blackening. I rescued the bread and realised that my experient had been pretty successful. We ate the bread with pasta topped by a simple tomato sauce. Another small victory in the battle for bread.

Sunny Osaka

AM

Least: At 11:20am, I stood at the checkout at the Koyho Supermarket and listened the the unintelligible barrage of Japanese from the clerk. Although it has been nine months and a day since I arrived in this crazy land, I still have been unable to make inroads with my understanding of Japanese. If I was serious, I would take up classes. It doesn't appear that I'm all that serious.

Most: At just past 8:00am, I woke to the sun streaming through my balcony window. The day was very mild and sunny, adding up to a spectacular day. It is amazing to think that just a day or so before, the sky was falling in sheets of water washing everything not undercover. It is weather like today that makes Japan look even more incredible than it already does. Finally, some fresh clear air, after a seemingly endless and uncomfortable summer.

PM

Least: At about 2:00pm, I walked down the footpath in Den Den Town and couldn't help noticing the strange advertising that adorned most shops. The fluttering flag depicted manga-esque schoolgirls with too-sexy looks on their faces. Their cartoon skirts were just short enough to allow the artist to show the beginnings of white undershorts. A boring Japanese cliche (see similar drawing right).

Most: At nearly 1:30pm, two plates of delicious Indian food crowded our table. The naan, which were hand made in the nearby kitchen were enourmous and provided the perfect scoop for the bowl of curry next to it. It was a little bizarre being in the familiar surrounds of an Indian restaurant, but with Indian people communicating only in Japanese. They had a menu in Japanese, Hindi and English. The food was spectacular and spectacularly cheap. Another interesting experience only to be had in Japan.