Sugoi, indeed

This is one facet of what life in Japan is like:

I spent the day studying kanji, followed by learning to wrap gifts in traditional Japanese style (I wasn't very good). I came back and ate a stir fry of vegetables, peanuts, and the (inadequate for a meal) leftover soba and ham from yesterday. Right now, I'm washing it down with a small tin of rather decent Suntory beer and a small tub of green tea ice cream, while watching a travel documentary comedy educational celebrity show about foodstuffs.

It was 35C and ferocious sunshine all afternoon. As I came home, the heavens were opening, and we had a violent thunderstorm for about half an hour while I cooked. Right now at 7.30pm it's a mere 30C, the sun has long set, the lights of dozens of apartment blocks glitters like stars in my window, and a man on the telly is eating noodles with chopsticks while simultaneously imitating an angry pig.

Before bed in a couple of hours (in order to get a bit of kip before the sun wakes me at 5am) I have a few emails from friends and family to consider replying to, homework to do, and need to consider an invitation to join a judo club. I am also, with a little part of my brain, mulling over the convenience of a TV genre whose entire script consists of the words "sugoi!", "tabetai!" and "ikimashou!" repeated in chorus at deafening volume, apparently designed for grown adults. I am not sure I can finish the green tea ice cream all at once, as it's very astringent. The amount of tea that must be concentrated in it to get it this grass-green is somewhat horrifying.

On the telly, a gaggle of people are applauding the sea from a balcony and shouting "sugoi". I'm happy for them. So few people really appreciate the existence of the sea.