Illegal activities

Day 15 Tuesday 24th August 2010

Coming down the stairs of the apartment this morning I noticed that someone had left 2 badminton rackets on the steps. Being a curious fellow, I wondered who might have done such a thing and what might happen next. Japanese people are famous for their non-involvement policy and for desperately trying to avoid any engagement that might cause them embarrassment or lead to a confrontation. 

Honme. Hotbed of crime

On walking out to my Honda truck I noticed that I had left the window open from when I had parked it last night. Inside, exactly where I had left them were my wallet and ipod. To me this is the single best thing about Japan. The low rate of crime here is something to be envied by all countries. I just wish that my area in Auckland was even half as safe and crime free as Kameoka. Of course there are bad people everywhere but in Western countries we tolerate and even encourage scumbags who are too lazy to earn an honest living. On the way over the mountain to our house we came across another example of the Japanese approach to crime. The tiny village of Honme is a handful of houses huddled together in the middle of some rice paddies. As I stopped at the one traffic light I saw 2 ancient men shuffling along the main street. These old boys had to have been in their 70’s or maybe even 80’s. What was remarkable about them was that they were wearing blue police type uniforms and white helmets. This was the Honme Illegal Activities Patrol. I burst out laughing when Shizuka informed me of this. The idea that any illegal activities would be going on in this village of pensioners and rice farmers was laughable but even more amusing was the thought of these 2 old guys doing something about it. I had to fight the impulse to say to them that I had seen Osama Bin Laden entering a house down the street. Shizuka figured that they wouldn’t care as long as he didn’t mix his glass with his cardboard on recycle day. The people of Honme must sleep soundly with these guys on the case!! 

Blastin!

Today we heard from the previous owner of the house. He explained that his family are now living in a small apartment and have no room for all this furniture. Furthermore, they don’t have any money to pay for the disposal of it. We agreed to dispose of it provided they at least take some of their personal stuff away and sign a statement that allows us to dump the rest.

Squeaky clean driveway

So I decided to work on the outside of the house until this happens. We got a small water blaster this morning which will make the job easier. The first step is to clean the north end of the house. This is the worst side with lots of black and green mould growing on this wall. 

The drive way had also turned black so that was next. The windows are all sliders so I removed the ones from this side of the house and cleaned them up. One of the neighbours stopped by to see how this strange yellow machine works. She was very surprised and impressed at our good as new looking concrete. Such things are usually only done by professionals and the idea of water blasting your own house never occurs to most people here it seems.