Leaving So Soon...

So, since we are soon leaving Japan, I thought I would post a few pics of interesting things you can only see here. Okay, you probably can see them elsewhere, just not in the US. And I have to thank Ginger for taking most of these pictures, since these things have all become just normal for us. This first one is of a school that Patrick works at. No, it's not abandoned or condemned, kids actually go to school here. All of the schools look kind of scary like this. They aren't so bad on the inside at least...

This is a picture of our bathroom. Yep, it's just a little room with a toilet. The sink is on the top of the tank. It's a pretty interesting way to do it, but the water always comes out cold, which is not so great in the winter, since the room isn't heated.

This is a picture of our house, which isn't that weird i guess, except that it's located in a parking lot.

This is a great photo. Most of the old women around here are permanently bent over from working in the rice fields all their lives, so they push around these little carts to help them balance. This lady decided to use a baby high chair instead. They all still work outside every day, so she has her hoe stashed in the baby cart in case she needs it. All the Grandmas dress like that too, even though it's like 85 degrees out.

Actually, this one isn't weird, but I though it was a really beautiful picture of the sunset over some traditional rooftops by our house.

This is a picture from the bonsai show at the train station. They had dozens of bonsai and most of them were flowering like this. It was really interesting.

That's it for now, but there may be more installments of interesting things in Japan later.