inagural wreckage

the streets of Kobe aren't necessarily suited to riding sleek, sexy machines as fast as humanly possible at all times. most of them are fairly narrow, with no grid system to speak of here in the 'burbs. it seems that most folk use bicycles for commuting to the station, hauling groceries and children and other such niceties. more concerned with personal safety than speed records, most stick to the sidewalk. it took me a while to get accustomed to this when i first arrived, almost being plowed into on several occasions. it's illegal, just like in the states, but when the road is barely wide enough for a single car to fit through, the fuzz just turn a blind eye. occasionally you get some asshole riding way too fast and weaving in and out of pedestrians. rest assured, they get livid fucking stares from this guy.

i haven't been to every asian country, but i've yet to find one which truly respects traffic laws. crosswalks are a fucking joke. luckily, i've yet to get injured (by a vehicle) on foot in japan (see the bit about vigilante pedestrianism in cambodia). moreover, the logical hierarchy that should grant pedestrians the right-of-way in most cases (followed by bicycles, motorcycles, and finally, cars), just doesn't seem to be in place. basically, larger vehicles command control of the streets. i'm coming to grips with this, and i think it's really just a side effect of limited space and heavy population.

enter the stallion. i don't think many drivers in tarumi are prepared for such unbridled speed and maneuverability. my ride from home to the main area of commerce takes me directly down a steep slope, slowing to a gradual decline leading to a river before entering the (small) biz district. the little mule's brakes are worn to shit, and have almost caused me a few accidents on the main descent. i learned my lesson, and now take that one slow. the other day however, on the gentle slope, some shit went down. i wasn't ready.

there was this lady who either didn't see me, or expected the same pace as someone toting sacks of cabbages and children. she didn't pull out RIGHT in front of me, and i had some time to slow down. what she did decide to do, however, was come to a complete fucking stop due to a large truck parking on the side of the road. completely unnecessary in this man's opinion. that little maneuver i didn't have time to stop for. fucking bickity-BAM! rocked the rear end pretty good. i came away unscathed, and the stallion sustained but a minor scuff:

can barely see the scratch on the point of the shifting mechanism.

left a sizable dent in granmomma's whip though. i yelled an apology and ducked down to look through the rear windshield. we locked eyes in the rear-view, at which point i blew a sexy kiss. my traffic-accident-logistics japanese isn't so good, and she probably didn't want to interact any further with a foreigner, so we both calmly pretended as though nothing happened and sped away. things were a bit awkward at the red light a hundred meters down the road, so i decided to run it.

it's been crash-tested, and handled itself pretty well. don't worry momma.

while i was outside shooting that phote, the SUPER-MOON was in full effect. using my newly learned digi-camera abilities, i captured a few framers:

view out the front. had to go tall to get the moon, but you can make out the downtown kōb n' o-saks combo at the bottom.

view out the back. they've decided to douse the bridge lights due to the lack of electricity up north. the most interesting thing about this is that it's impossible to "send" power to that grid. apparently, after WWII, eastern Japan designed it's grid based on the German system, while western J designed theirs on the American system. the east operates on 50 hz, while we here in the wild goddamn west operate on 60. can't stop. won't stop. uh-uh, uh-uh.

there are connector stations and whatnot, but it just wouldn't be feasible. everyone knows this, and the conservation here is just a form of condolences.

more of the same. i was just pumped because it was the first time i was able to get night shots from the V-rand.

looking back towards the digs from the fire escape. garden's admittedly seen better days... i'll hook it up soon.

i went to this sweet flower and bird park a couple weeks ago, where they had all sorts of birds and flowers and whatnot. it was mighty sweet! you could buy bait (translated directly from japanese), and then these exotic fowl would come chill all up on your arm-piece and munch it down. beautiful flora as well.

lily pads! you could bait up the fish in this pond as well.

we shared a moment.

rhinoceros hornbill.

one of the coolest parts were these four little pools that you could pay 300 yens to put your hands/feet in. two were for hands, two for feet. in these pools reside the "medical fish". it's all these little bacteria-eating fish that will clean your skin. i screamed like a little girl the first few times i dipped my feet in, then realized that you just have to fucking go for it. it feels like a bunch of half-inch diameter pieces of sandpaper are gently being rubbed against your skin. clearly poses difficulty for those with ticklish feet. here's a quick video:

apologies for the small size.