Airport or Non-Airport: YOU DECIDE

Happy White Day everybody!  White Day is the Japanese answer to Valentine's Day, and by answer I mean that they also have Valentine's Day but on White Day you answer all the people who got you chocolate for Valentine's Day by giving them chocolate in return.  Actually, usually the girls give the guys they like chocolate for Valentine's Day.  Then the guys get "obligatory chocolate" for all the girls unless they really like a girl and then they get her a really nice chocolate gift or ask her to marry.  I only got chocolate in my catered lunch on Valentine's Day, and I think the lunch catering lady is married so I didn't get her any chocolate.

You know how sometimes in the U.S. you get behind a car that drives fine but then takes all turns really wide and slow?  And usually you're like "come ON old lady!" (no offense to old ladies reading this).  Well nearly everyone here drives like that.  I mean, I know the roads are narrow and you're never sure if a side street is a street, and you have to watch out for the many bicyclists and pedestrians about to go by on the sidewalk, but sometimes when someone in front of me is turning, I want to get out and walk up to their car and knock on the window and lean in and say "is everything okay in here?  Just checking," and then walk back leisurely to my car and take a nap.

On the topic of driving, I have found the straightest street in all of Japan.  Or at least all of Omura.  If you look closely, it ends with a van.  But it's a nice drive because it's next to the bay and it's straight.  I usually only accidentally go down this street one time in my life when I think it goes through to my neighborhood and realize that's impossible because of the way the bay is shaped.  But it is a nice shortcut to the post office, and by shortcut of course I mean it takes longer than any other way I've taken yet.

If you stop on this same road to take a picture through the fence, this is the picture you'll get.  It looks like an airport, especially because there are various aircraft parked in some of the buildings.  But it's not Nagasaki Airport, so I don't know what it is.  I think it might have something to do with the military base here in town, because I often see what looks like helicopters crashing on my way home from work but I just now (as I typed this paragraph) put it together that they were probably landing here.  FYI the sun is always setting in the background of this facility, so the pictures will always turn out this nice.

I need to take back everything I've ever said about Doritos.  I realized today that the "Mexican Tacos Flavored" Doritos might actually be taco flavored.  Today at a different store I found Nacho Cheese flavored Doritos.  I haven't eaten them yet, but I have a sneaking suspicion.  I also found salsa!  I haven't eaten it yet either, but it's gotta be better than what I made.  You can expect a full report some other day.

On a final note, it's a rather brisk evening.  It was warm but windy all day, and this is the clear clear sky at around 6:30 when I got home from work and the grocery store.  It's so beautiful it reminds me of the outer edge of a planetarium as they dim the lights at the beginning of the show.  It's amazing how life imitates art.

Oh, as a final final note, you may have noticed that there are often a LOT of typos in my blog posts. I haven't noticed, which would explain why they're there.  My computer keys are apparently not very sensitive, so unless I press each key with the force of an ice-age-bringin'-meteorite, sometimes the letters don't show up.  But I very rarely edit or revise what I've written because if there's one thing that I am it's too good for that.

As a final final final note, have you ever heard of the Osusumebachi?  That's the Japanese word that translates as "Sparrow Hornet," so named because it's the size of a Sparrow II XTC.  They're also called "Japanese giant hornet" in English.  That's because they're big.  While we were on break, outside drinking coffee by the vending machine, I casually asked my friend at work if those hornets lived in this area.  He said "oh no no, not this area.  More like over there, by the trees" (pointing to an area about 15 feet away).  So if I live to post them, you might see pictures of giant hornets.  But of course they'll be wearing monocles and top-hats in the photos, so just relax.