“Kiji” pheasants have a grating call that I always said sounds like a rusty gate, but I found a more apt comparison: the scraping sound of sliding plastic hangers along a pole. 😬
It’s not a thing where I’m from, but Boxing Day each Dec 26, has an interesting origin of being a day for the more fortunate to give to the less so. There’s also Cricket and big sales. 🎁⛪️
Merry Christmas from Maru the Shiba and his humans. 🎄📷
NYT Connections is a cool game where you pick groups of four words with some connection from easy to hard.
Puzzle #196
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟪🟪🟪🟪
On 12/23 in 1982 Japan NTT designated this day “telephone card day”. My first real job was at a design co that licensed idol and actor photos, selling “tereca” printed with them and some English text, to dept stores. 🎌☎️
Per GEDA, 12/22 1997 (H9) marks when generic medicines were first allowed by MHLW, giving Japan consumers access to cheaper alternatives. Med patents expire in ~20 yrs, after which generics can be made. 🇯🇵💊
Today 21 Dec is the anniversary of the first “word-cross” puzzle, published in the New York World in 1913 (T2) by its editor Arthur Wynn. 📰
Walkers have precedence on the highways and byways of Sumida… 📷🇯🇵
Optimists waiting in the cold to buy their 年末ジャンボー “year end jumbo” lottery ticket. 📷🇯🇵
Red down left 📷
Baron Yoshitoshi Tokugawa (relative of the last Shogun) piloted Japan’s first powered flight 19 Dec 1910 where Yoyogi Park is today. 🇯🇵🪽
Robert Patrick, who played the T-1000 in one of the Terminator films has a good line in the new Reacher season on Amazon Prime. Someone asks about an alias: “Who’s Sarah Conner?” and his character quips, “I don’t give a shit, just keep an eye on that hotel.” 😆
Dec 17 1903, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, was the first 4 manned flights by the Wright Brothers over a short distance. Today you can hang glide it! 🛫📷
Dec 16, 1890 (M23) marks the start of phone service between Tokyo and Yokohama with 155 and 44 phones respectively. The 7 female operators (with 2 males on night shift) could connect you for 240K JPY in today’s money. 🇯🇵📞
Destruction of the ancestral “jikka” home under tarps, 2019. 📷🇯🇵
A program in place since 1906 in Japan, Dec 15-25 marks the period during which you can post a 年賀状 “nengajo” postcard for Jan 1 arrival. 🇯🇵🏣📷
Empty Tokyo restaurant. 📷⏳
Maru the Shiba came back from day care and the staff who drove him said he and other Shibas hadn’t pooped. A border collie friend kept running up like “hey! Whatcha doing!? Any good smells there?” causing poopus interruptus. 😂🐕
Dec 13 marks the formal start in Japan of 正月事始め（shougatsu-goto-hajime） when the Big Tidy activities start and it’s off to the mountains to get 門松 (kadomatsu) materials. 🎍🇯🇵
Bean bun boogie, Shinbashi Tokyo. 📷🧆
Alien traffic safety mascot approaches. 📷👽
Dec 11 is International Mountain Day, a day to think on our impact on vital mountain ecosystems. I wish I was hiking today! 🏔️📷
Scaffolding went up before the old “jikka“ ancestral home was torn down. Four years ago already! 📷🏡
Yesterday our 大掃除 “ohsouji” or “Big Tidy” task was replacing the ugly brown mats we’d laid downstairs with nice wood-like flooring. Took all day & was really hard, but looks good & we can use the heated floor. 💦
8000 US $ per hour?! Wow.