Packaging, my accommodation, Okayama and other observations.

This just a post of things I have noticed, or that have no place else where in my blog, but I want to share anyway.

The Japanese love packaging!! I mean it, it is beyond crazy. You probably know that gift giving is very important here, which I shall talk about in a future post I am sure. But what stands out the most is that how the gift is wrapped and presented, is often more important than the gift itself. This love of packaging has also inevitably bled into commercial products. Whereas in England, and as far as I can tell most of Europe, there has been a push in recent years to cut down on over packaging products, in Japan this is definitely not the case!! 

My late night snack of camembert and ritz was hindered by ridiculous amounts of wrappers. Having grown up being told that packaging like this kills polar bears, it has been hard for me to see the advantages of it. Each slice of cheese is wrapped, why on earth would that help? But living on my own, as I do, I have reluctantly accepted that actually this is pretty practical, for one thing it stops me eating everything in one sitting, and equally it keeps my food fresh, preventing soggy ritz (which no one wants) and mouldy cheese.

I thought I would also add in a few pictures of my accommodation, I will take better ones later, but this scene was beautiful at the time with the sun low in the sky, but in hindsight it does not photograph so well.

 Below you can see the rice fields next to my accommodation, which if I lean really far out of my balcony I can just about see.

And here is a picture of Okayama centre, I can't believe that before I arrived I was told this was a village -_-

Today, whilst in town I saw this ridiculously fluffy pony, he was so damn soft! And when the owner noticed me trying to photograph the pony, he proceeded to place a plushie pony on top. I don't know why, but nevertheless I wanted to keep him. The pony, not the owner. 

A legitimate medical problem in Japan, Strawberry Nose.

Ohh and last but not least, I was genuinely shocked when I first saw this, and have since seen it quite a few times. Anyone can go into jewellery or cosmetic shops and buy disposable piercing machines. Coming from the land of OTT health and safety, this blew my little mind.