Street Lights

Okay, I admit this is a pretty lame photo, but give me a break, I was super busy today. I had some moments when I thought of the picture I would take, but when I was in the situation to take it, I completely forgot. That happened a few times. I did try to take a photo of a senior citizen croquet tournament (that's how a lot of them spend their time), but the photo didn't turn out well. Anyway, by the time I was ready and able to take a photo, it was past 9 and the sun was long beyond the horizon.

So, street lights. It took me awhile to realize why car headlights seemed so bright all the time, and why it was necessary to use the brights even within the city, not just country roads. There aren't many street lights! Not so few that I feel unsafe, but definitely fewer than in LA. They aren't even placed every given distance or anything. I've noticed their positioning is more to highlight entries to housing complexes and intersections. People walking at night often wear reflectors or carry flashlights.

I don't know if you can see the bright spot on the bottom left, but that is coming from something shiny in a trash bag. That's where we put our trash. So instead of the trash man coming and picking up everyone's trash individually, neighborhoods gather their trash the morning of (some do it the night before, but that causes problems) in a designated spot. Sometimes it's put in a cage, box or under a net like ours. I wish we had a cage because A) if my trash bag is full, I have to keep it inside until trash day because B) the giant Japanese crows get into the bags and scatter trash all over the place! No wonder they're so big, they keep eating people food!

I'll leave recycling for another time because I can talk about that for awhile.