Now that the air-conditioning is officially off in most buildings for the autumn season, the smell of cigarettes has intensified almost unbearably.



I'm homesick like crazy lately. I saw a pile of beautiful apples in the grocery store and burst into tears; I was thinking about Bear's Fruitstand in Keromeos, BC, which by now would be piled high with verdant displays of apples and squashes and pumpkins in every size and shape and colour imaginable. The air would be sharp and cool and perhaps tinged with sweet smoke from the burning leaves and prunings in the nearby orchards. Here I have a stinky internet cafe and perfectly organized piles of Hokkaido apples at 300 yen per apple. (About 3$ CDN... yikes!)

Nahhhh. I'm being too narrow, too negative. There are things here that still thrill me, but it's true that the rate of discovery has dropped significantly. I'm a little tired of being regarded as a painting or a circus animal might; something to admire or visit with, but never to touch. Little niggly doubts about the future of my relationship with Japan are beginning to creep in. At the same time, there's so much depth to it all, there's so much I can still learn. It would be a shame if I didn't soak up a little bit more of the fabulousness before I moved on...