Since my return I seem to be working through all my old bugbears about facets of life here. Today it is plastic bags. There's a love affair with packaging here and it makes me realise that we are quite enlightened back home. The staff in the shops I frequent are no longer surprised when I tell them I don't need a carrier bag, but it took a long time for it to sink in and I expect they think I am a weird foreigner. I saw a man today carrying one tiny item in a carrier bag, even though he was wearing utility trousers with lots of pockets. I really wanted to tell him off. There's no point hoping the stores will lead the way because at the end of the day each carrier is a bit of advertising for them. My main supermarket used to stamp a card for me if I used my own bags but they withdrew that scheme some time ago.
On the other hand, it is great to see dog owners cleaning up behind their pets and to know that Emily is not likely to end up with toxaemia when she plays in the parks. At home they could do well to follow Japan's lead on that issue.
Our morning outing was to Hon Shiba, where Emily had fun in the sandpit among hordes of children from nearby nurseries. One of the boys seemed obsessed with her blonde hair and kept stroking it. We went to Azabu park with Julia in the afternoon. Emily and Charlize (Emily calls her 'Lalize') enjoyed climbing the steps and using the whizzy slide (I like that one too, as it is composed of thin tubes of metal that roll you down the long curving sweep very rapidly). I was delighted to see Emily climb up the steps unaided, as she has never done anything like that before, and the steps were quite deep. She also knew she had done something special and smiled her secret smile to me.
After half an hour we moved on to Appi jidokan for another hour's playtime. I was surprised by how quiet it was in there, but I think a lot of expats have already gone home for the summer. They were decorating the alcove with bamboo branches hung with homemade paper decorations for Tanabata - Star Festival - on July 7th.
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