Almost home again

 This is the drink that I bought at the convenience store, Pocari Sweat, another of those wonderfully named Japanese products. No one seems to know what Pocari means but to me it sounds like some South American mammal, which means, based on the name, I was drinking the sweat from a pocari.

 This is the roof of a house stick up above a tree in its front yard.

 I met up with some grade school girls who, for some reason, were out of school early. Notice that they all have backpacks, called rondoseru. All students in grades 1 through 6 have these to carry their books and other stuff. They are made from leather and are quite heave. My children used light weight cloth backpacks because there is no rule that they must be rondoseru, only the custom. Many of the students in my kids school changed to backpacks but after my kids left the trend did not continue. The power of custom and advertising. Making and sell rondoserus is a big business here.

 Nestled in some trees was an ad for the Komeito, the Komei political party. It started as the political arm of one of the new religions, but eventually became independent.

 Here are some more advertising flags. These are in front of a large store that sells tires.

Since I moved into the area, this has been a pay-by-the-month parking lot. But now, they are starting some sort of construction. I would bet that it will be an apartment building but I guess I will have to wait and see.