Harvesting daikon or white radish

Today, we start to harvest the radish or daikon as it is known in Japanese from our little garden. As we have lots of the daikon, we gave them away freely. The daikon is sold cheaply in the supermarket because of its abundance. It is in season now and a slightly bigger one than that in the photo above cost 99 Yen or about $1.30. Our daikon like the one above weighs about 1.5 kg.
Daikon or white radish is used to make the famous Singapore carrot cake or chay tow kway (pic below).

Laying of tiles and installing a BBQ pit

It is a cool glorious autumn morning with lots of sunshine. We are still in the process of laying tiles on the other half of the garden. We plan to complete laying the tiles and installing a bbq pit in preparation for our bbq party in the coming spring.

Kurochan the cat

Kuro has stationed himself almost permanently with us. He has not done the disappearance act since the last time. He has been gaining weight since staying with us. He loves eating nice food and spends his time relaxing or patrolling the garden.
It is quite cold outside especially in the night whereby the temperature may drop to 8c but I guess he is used to it. My in-laws do not want Kuro to be in the house and I am worried that he may suffer during the winter months when the temperature may go down to almost zero.

Oranges in Japan

These orange trees belong to our neighbours. The oranges will be ready for harvesting in March next year. By then, they will be very sweet. Our neighbours have promised to give us some of these oranges.

Fresh oysters from Itoshima, Japan

We drove to a place 2 hours away called Itoshima in Southern Japan. We went there for oysters as we have heard so much about it. Oysters and other types of seafood are being served during the cooler months. Surprisingly, the place was quite crowded even on weekdays.
The oysters are freshly hauled from the sea and they tasted so good that we feel like going back there again in the near future.
1 kilo of oysters cost 1,000 Yen (S$13) and you cook them over the charcoal grill. It's all DIY. A point to note is that you will have to pay 300 Yen for the charcoal. A waterproofed jacket which act as an apron is provided free of charge

Beautiful & intelligent

BUDDHA PROPHESIED JESUS?

Our new neighbour in Japan

Our new neighbour who had just moved in presented us with 5 of the above gift. It is customary for the Japanese to introduce themselves and present a small gift to the neighbours when they move into a new area. However, the younger generations may not practise this old customs.

Sunday's special offer at about 50% discount in a supermarket in Japan

Guess what I found outside a Japanese supermarket?

Some supermarkets in Japan provide umbrella plastic wrappers for their customers (above photos). It is useful when it is raining. By using the wrappers, the floor will not be wet or dirty.
For hygiene reason, shoppers are encouraged to use the dis-infected wipes to clean the shopping baskets (photos below)

Outside the supermarkets, you may find waste containers for different types of waste and plastic containers etc (below). The Japanese are environmentally conscious people.

About the Japanese people

Glorious autumn day in Southern Japan

It is blue skies with the sun shining for the whole day. The temperature is about 21c during mid afternoon which is comfortable indeed. There is a light breeze which keeps the temperature from going up. It is indeed a beautiful nice day with 60% humidity. Spring and fall or autumn as we call it are the two best seasons. Winter here is not too bad as the temperature seldom goes below 12c even during the night. Summer could be quite hot and humid just like in Singapore.

Sayonara Typhoon Hagibis, we don't miss you

Typhoon Hagibis has finally left the north eastern part of Japan but not after taking the lives of more than 60 people and damaging houses, road, trains etc. Hagibis is one of the most powerful storms to slam Japan in decades.
A train depot in Nagano prefecture had 10 of the bullet trains submerged in flood water. One train is said to cost around S$40 million.
I was told this is not the last of the typhoons for 2019. There are a few more on the way until the seas get colder.

The day after Typhoon Hagibis hit Tokyo

The day after Typhoon Hagibis which ravaged the Tokyo areas with winds up to 195 kph and taking at least half a dozen lives with many people still missing, our place in Fukuoka is relatively untouched.
As you can see, our car is coated with dust caused by the strong gust that carried the dust from a nearby construction site yesterday.
Today's forecast is windy with winds up to 40 kph, sunny and a comfortable average day temperature of about 22c.

883 km away from Typhoon Hagibis yet ....

Super typhoon Hagibis is currently battering the Tokyo region with winds up to 195 kph. I am now in Fukuoka, 883 km away (air distance)from Tokyo. Although Fukuoka is not in the path of Hagibis, we are experiencing winds up to 50 kph. Although there is a meter of rainfall in the Tokyo region today, Fukuoka has recorded zero rain.
Up till 1 pm today (12 Oct 2019), fortunately only one death has occurred in Tokyo. Typhoon Hagibis will die off by tonight and all will be back to normal by tomorrow.
About 10,000 households in Kanto, Chiba and Tokyo regions are without power.

A little fireplace in our home

I've recently installed an electric fireplace in our home. As the days are getting colder, it seemed like a good idea to have a small fireplace although the main source of heating is still our powerful airconditioning cum heater unit.