Walking Home From School

Today was the school closing ceremony before winter vacation, which only lasted until 11 am. Having some time to spare and no other plans, I decided to walk home from school. This decision was met with considerable shock on the part of my host mother. Japanese people aren't really used to doing things like that, I think. The day was grey and rainy, but I managed to take a lot of photos.

A view of a park of sorts beside a river. I'll be curious to see how it's used in the spring time.

Because I live in a more rural area, there are all manners of growing things and quite a few garden patches and farms scattered about.

A regular modern-esque Japanese house.

Most every business has an foreign name and sign for it written in English characters, along with bonus description in Engrish.

Giant spider! Aiee!

Haha.. I'm not sure if the owners of the house understand this, but cute nonetheless.

A look back at the bank of Kasugai City from across the river.

What?

Since there isn't any garden space on regular houses, it's curious to see what some people do to liven up their living area and add some manner of green to their houses.

A tree near a farmer's field blossoming in December.

I don't know what this is, but I'm sure it would go well in a salad.

Home sweet home.

A curious house with a lot of decoration.

More...

And again...

Then at night.

Christmas lights, or "illumination," are very popular here and it seems that neighbors try to outdo one another for the most elaborate setups. While some houses are almost overwhelming to the eye, the Japanese people seem to consider this beautiful rather than overkill. Who knows?