Picture: Food: Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki is one of the unsung heroes of Japanese food and a famous dish in the Kansai region of the country. It is basically a type of savory pancake made on a grill and covered with mayo and Bull-Dog sauce. This one, which I proceeded to eat in an okonomiyaki restaurant in Tsukaguchi, Hyogo prefecture, in the fall of 2001, had pork and squid inside.

Picture: Humor: Awry Menu Translation

I noticed this menu at a cafe in Shinjuku, Tokyo in May 2008:

Item 1: English- 'New York style caesar salad' Japanese- 'Draft beer'
Item 2: English- 'homemade soup' Japanese- 'glass of wine (red/white)'

This can be nothing if not deliberate.

Picture: Car: Gutted Subaru

I came across this car while I was walking in the foothills above Minoo, in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, in October 2005, while looking for monkeys. It is a derelict, a 'haisha' in the local parlance--- as it is costly to junk a car in Japan, one often sees cars that have been left in parking lots, fields, and less-travelled roads