River Life

You never know what kind of life you'll run into on the river. Dogs and cats are no surprise, but it's always a special day when you can see a baby goat dressed up and river rats checking out the cherry blossoms.

Sunday Struttin'

As far as a I can tell, these guys dance to rockabilly in front of City Hall every Sunday afternoon. With slicked hair, scuffed shoes, and a formidable boombox, they dance individually in a small rotating circle to almost no fanfare. A couple friends quietly sit and watch. These guys dance with a controlled intensity, one that is recaptured after every short break and sustained throughout the afternoon. The music, the clothes, and the dancing would be nostalgic for someone who grew up seeing Elvis or Jerry Lee Lewis on TV, but it is more likely these guys were part of the Stray Cats generation. I have seen larger groups in Nagoya and Tokyo, always doing more or less the same thing in a very public place. I bet every major city has at least a few groups. You can go so far as to call this a sub-culture, one that has now come full-circle after brief periods of mainstream popularity. Hats off to the brave three of Kyoto.

Roof Beams

All kinds of people work on weekends. Employees of restaurants or stores are expected to do so, as well as police officers, fire fighters, and teachers with papers to grade. Sometimes it comes with the job, and sometimes it doesn't. It's not rare to see a few business suits walking with briefcases on a Saturday or Sunday, but lately, they've been outnumbered. Donning paint-splattered canvas bell-bottoms, layers of sweaters, and scratched up helmets, dozens of construction workers come in to work on the unfinished buildings on my street alone. When I bike to the grocery store, I pass a crane reaching high up into an apartment building, complete with a pair of workers directing bike and pedestrian traffic around the site. It's a similar scene in other parts of the city as well.
The word around town says it's all related to the consumption tax going up this April. Projects are being pushed along, things need to be done sooner before the cost goes up, which means working weekends for a lot more people. It all starts to make sense, but questions loom. When April does come around, will we see a drop off in the amount of construction work being done? Is that why so many workers are willing to work on snowy Sunday mornings? As noisy and irritating as they can be at times, I can't help but admire their dedication, and hope it all pays off for them.