Another rainy day in Tokyo. We seem to have a lot of those lately. In the above left photo, Tokyo Tower is almost completely obscured again. Funny that I have started judging the weather by how well I can see Tokyo Tower. And, the weather has turned chilly as well. We had a taste of spring weather, and now one last blast of gray and dreary winter weather. At least we hope it is the last… Sakura time is coming! The Japanese cherry trees will be blooming soon! Projected date for Tokyo is March 23rd… Hopefully the weather will warm a bit for maximum viewing pleasure.
Anyway… despite the cold and rain, life in urban Tokyo goes on. Everyone still has to get out to go to work, or to school, or wherever. Being from suburban Atlanta, I am used to having a car, and going straight from my warm house to my nice dry, warm car in the garage! Outside-in-the-wet-cold time is usually at a minimum. Here everyone just accepts that they have to bundle up and wear their rain coats and boots. It is a good idea to always have your umbrella handy here.
I had planned to go to the supermarket today, but when the rain started this morning, I almost decided to put it off for another day. I usually have to shop here almost every day or every other day because our refrigerator is so small. Milk and orange juice are only available in half liter cartons at the grocery store I shop. We usually run out of one or the other about every day. Today I needed to get quite a few things, so finally, after watching the rain for a couple of hours, I decided I had to go.
Our apartment is a little less than a kilometer from the closest grocery store. I can actually see it from our apartment window… not far from my husband’s office building. It takes about 10 minutes to walk there. Not bad. Even in the rain. As usual I walked along under the monorail track for a ways… the monorail trains rumble overhead about every 3 minutes or so. Everyone was bundled in raincoats and carried umbrellas… the strollers all had rainflys. Even the kids on the backs of bicycles have rainflys. They peek out at the world through the plastic covers.
It wasn’t a bad walk in the rain… in fact, I actually enjoyed it. I had my trusty re-usable grocery bag from the US, and I slung it over my shoulder so everything was under the umbrella and protected from the rain. The wind wasn’t blowing very hard, so my umbrella was behaving. The rain made just a gentle spattering sound as I walked. The seabirds swooped and flew along the canal, and the ducks were happily paddling through the waves. It was a pleasant walk. Rainy days and Mondays. No… (cheesy as it sounds) they don’t really get me down.
Four Years in Japan ... and now Three Years in London 