A Change Of Plans

 There's a bus stop at the bottom of this road, the bus goes into the city and one of the train stations. Train stations in larger cities in Japan are like mini shopping malls. 

I haven't visited this station in many years, about 25 years, maybe more. When Mikey was a toddler, I would get on the bus with him and go there. We would look around the stores, and I would usually buy him a little toy. I remember there was a little bookstore that would have English magazines, like Reader's Digest or Time Magazine, and I would treat myself to a copy. If I didn't have to rush back, we would go to McDonald's and get a snack. I enjoyed doing that.  It felt normal when most of my life felt abnormal, dealing with a completely different culture and language.  It was something I would have done if we lived in the UK.

Unfortunately, the area around the train station became run down. I think the final blow for the stores there was the building of a massive shopping mall in 2003. Slowly, the stores, even the larger ones, closed down.

When I accepted that moving here was inevitable, I started to look at what is in this area. I knew it would be easy for me just to stay in the house and do nothing. Because I can't drive, I needed places that I could get to on the bus. I came across a video about this train station, it's been totally revitalized! I was surprised to see how good it looks. Not only in the station but the area surrounding it has changed, new stores have come in, including Diaso and Don Quijote, a fantastic discount store!

I planned to get on the bus this afternoon, just go and have a look round. But I haven't been sleeping very well this week, maybe one hour in 24 hours. Even with the sleeping tablets, I only slept 4 hours! So even though I really wanted to go, I decided against it. Maybe after next week, according to my weather app, next week is going to be extremely hot, over 35 °C for 6 days!

But I did want to get out, so this evening, just before sunset, Christopher and I went for a walk around the area. 

It wasn't easy, but it felt good to get out.

I love how quiet it is and the light!

I think this is a Jizo; they usually have red hats, but he has a yellow one.

There's a small park up the road, but it looks overgrown.

On the way back, we found some chickens.

Chickens, but they smelt bad!

Growing beer?

On the way back, we passed our land. Every time I see it, I feel overwhelmed. It really is too much to deal with! 

We really need a lot of money to get this cleared. The problem is that this is only 2 of 16 pieces!