There are lots of crows here, and there is one crow who really likes the bike park. I take a photo of him every time I pass the bike park and see him in there. This way I have proof if he ever decides to take a dump all over my bike.

I can’t believe it’s already approaching the end of October. That blows my mind! Weeks here go by as fast as days, and the weekend feels like just one evening. Because of the hot summer, the leaves are turning colors much later than in previous years (so the news tells me), and it’s just beginning to become colorful. I plan to go to Kyoto soon to see the foliage in its full glory… but anyway for now I can enjoy Takefu.

Takefu has a Chrysanthemum Doll Festival this time of year. I haven’t gone yet, but I’ve seen posters and flags all over town. The train station has this fascinating setup:

It’s pretty cool, but bizarre at the same time. Kind of like everything in Japan, actually!

Halloween is coming up in just 9 days. That’s both awesome and depressing. Halloween is my absolute favorite Holiday, and it just doesn’t exist here. You hear about it on kid’s educational shows, and everyone seems to know what it is, but the Halloween section of the department store is smaller than the Iranian handicrafts section at your average Wal-Mart. And even then, the selection is extremely limited. Basically, if you’re a tiny girl who loves to cute absolutely cute (50% of the Japanese population, that is), you have an ample selection of cute witches, cute devils, and cute French maids. If you’re anyone else, well, good luck. We’re celebrating at Aeon for one week — one week of costume wearing. Awesome! Apparantly the all-adult branches are having very sexy Halloween celerations, but since our school has kids, all of our teachers have decided to wear semi-sexy outfits, and buy extra sexy outfits for later (yeah, holy crap!). I, of course, took the failsafe route:

Happy Halloween!