ふゆを きますか - Is winter coming?

The weather is definitely changing here. Last week seemed to be the turning point. Now, you need to wear long-sleeves if you are out and about in the evening and there are moments during the day when a breeze is enough to make you wish you had an extra layer of clothing with you. It is still getting up to about 30ºC at midday, but it starts cooling down sooner and quicker than previously. This comes as such a relief. I guess it is part of being English to complain about the weather; It is never perfect and therefore needs to be protested about endlessly. I'll be saying it is getting too cold soon enough.

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You know, for a country that doesn't actually celebrate Christmas, Japan sure does prepare early for it. I took this photo on Friday at Seiyokan.


Yeah. Eleven weeks until Christmas. There were also advertisements for a tree-decorating competition, which May and I are thinking of entering. We thought we'd have an obvious advantage because we are westerners so have decorated more Christmas trees than your average Japanese person, and also we thought we might win a few extra votes if we threw in some of our crudely-made origami. I think this is going to fall into the Things We Said We Would Do But Never Did category, it has to be said.