Neighborhood Makino
9/30/09 12:47 PM
I currently am staying with a host family which is about 10 minutes or less from Makino Keihan station by foot. It is a pretty commonly used train even though it is not a big station it gets very crowded on the staircase down from the platform. Before I began my commute by bike, I had to deal with it every day. However, now I bike to school and right outside my house is the intersection in the picture above. Almost every morning there is a very lovely Obaasan by the name of Kobaya who volunteers her time to be a traffic guard and make sure people are safe in the busy intersection. She holds a green flag and greets everyone with a "Ohayo gozaimasu!" I wanted to get a picture of her , but unfortunately since this morning it was raining, she was not there. My Okaasan describes Kobaya as a very lively and energetic person, which she really is. It seems that many people in the neighborhood know her.
Aside from waking up to Kobaya's "Ohayo gozaimasu" I also get woken up in the early morning by the stray cats outside. The Makino neighborhood I live in is filled with stray cats, and at night they are very loud and annoying. Even with my window closed I can hear them. There is one bulding near my house in particular, that I pass on my way to the Makino train station, that many stray cats tend to hang around. In the picture above you can see the building, which is one of the small shops on the street, and there are four cats outside it. But from what I've seen this is normal, stray cats are everywhere in my Makino neighborhood, and from reading articles on the internet it seems that stray cats are a problem in Japan.
The neighborhood I live in has a lot of small shops and many karaoke spots as well. I look forward to exploring more of Makino during my stay in Japan, and getting to know more of the residents.
I like this post a lot because you 1) define what your neighborhood is, 2) discuss the observations you make and experience (traffic volunteer and cats), 3) ask other people about what you see and 4) provide links with information related to your posts. Good job. It would be great if you could add a photo of Kobaya-san and a little more info about her as a post script.
ReplyDeleteOh man, those cats... They probably outnumber the humans. Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do about them except hope that they chase a fish down the river and don't come back. Other than that, Makino is a pretty place and I envy you for living there. Have you explored the eating establishments yet? It seems pretty hard to do this with a host family, but if you get a chance, check out Sandoru Grill or Makino Sake Dojo.
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