my lipstick now has a sheet

Right, so who knew that even my accessories

could have exciting lives in Japan?

Yesterday as I ran to the bus stop (for the record, I was actually early, I just felt like running!) my lipgloss fell out of my pocket. I realized it after I was on the bus, and saw it lying there dejectedly on the sidewalk as the bus passed the scene of the crime. Ah, well, I thought. It'll most likely be there when I get back in the afternoon.

Not so.

25 minutes later I got to school, and as I was getting my first pot of green tea, one of the teachers came over and halting asked

if I'd...if I'd...if I'd...lost....something. Lipstick?

WHAT?

People always warn not to do anything "illegal" here, since someone is always watching and knows who you are. Thank goodness it was only (legally acquired!) lipstick!

It turns out that someone had picked it up and turned it in to the police box across the street. Somehow they knew where I worked and the police called my school office to say they had the lipstick. The teacher called them back to say that yes, the lipstick was mine.

Great. I can just go there to pick it up on my way home.

No. Of course I can't, because, as they like to make things as complicated as possible here, my poor little lipstick had to be brought to the big police office 'to be processed' (how could I make this stuff up???). So after school, I went to the bus station (by the way, I'm on the bus because it's been raining, I'm sick & I need new bike brakes) to find out which bus to take to the police station. The ladies in the bus office know me now, since I often come to visit the station "boss" because he likes to practice his English with me. WELL. Instead of just telling me which bus to take, he drives me to the police station so I can spring my poor little lipstick. I'm not telling lies when I had to give a full description of the lipstick and fill out a whole report about my lost lipstick (technically lipgloss) - the picture here is of the officer inputting my report.

FINALLY, I was able to take my lipstick, and the bus station boss man drove me home. At least he got a good laugh out of it, too.

I should probably make him some cookies.

Hoshi kaki & Mogura

So one of the otoshiyori is campaigning hard to be my Japanese boyfriend. Heh! No, the furry guy below isn't a picture of him! This morning after I did my little run and joined up with my friends, my wanna-be suitor handed me these 2 shrivelled things wrapped in plastic. Fortunately it wasn't the first time I'd seen hoshi kaki (persimmon that have been 'dried' while they hang on a line - you can even see part of the tie on the left one), so I didn't think he was really trying to be a dirty old man. (but the jury's still out on that one!). I like kaki - but prefer them when they are hard and ripe - this version is a little too sweet for me. But they're generally perceived as beautiful objects as seen drying on the line.
So once I was settled with my kaki, another man pulls out a sizable dead mouse/rat and gingerly picks it up and asks me if I've seen one....WHAT?

No one else seemed remotely concerned...the ladies even seemed to think it was CUTE (remember, I've seen some of them FREAK OUT over a moth that got trapped in a room). Upon closer examination, I realized it was not what I'd thought, it was actually a mole! Apparently they're quite rare in these parts, and I don't know why he had it, but I (hopefully) graciously declined his offer to give it to me to bring to school...