In fact the contents of this post are much less dramatic than the title. After the high octane of the unforgettable trip to Hokkaido, I return to more mundane stuff.
I have mentioned Lustre before. When my apartment gets a little grimy, I fix an appointment for a person to come round to sparkle it. https://thequietripple.com/2021/09/30/lustre/
A wonderful lady comes to my door and kicks me out for 4 hours. She has the bit between her teeth.
A diversion on date traditions. British is ; day, month, year. My birthday is thus; 16, 5, 1952. U.S. is; 5,16,1952. Japan is;1952, 5, 16. It is easy to make mistakes and I miss a doctor’s appointment due to a confusion between day and month.
Having time on my hands, I drive down to the clinic, It is a specialist place dealing in prostrate glands. When I say say dealing in, I do not mean buying or selling but rather specializing in. I intend to set up a new appointment.
I sheepishly apologize and ask for a new date. ” Dai jo bou Neil san, have a seat.” Ten minutes later I am with the doctor. He speaks no English but we converse by Google translate on his computer screen. Brave New World. We establish that everything is OK and he prescribes some, just in case, medication.
I pay 400 yen for the consultation. The pharmacy is on the ground floor of the building.
Three months of drugs costs 1,500 yen, er like nothing. Why can’t health care be like this in the rest of the world? Thanks Japan.
The clinic is near the fish market.
My only gauge on increasing prices in Japan is tempura. When I arrived 12 years ago each piece cost 60 yen, now it is 80 yen. I blame the Tories etc.
The market is not too far from the stinking Triangular Pond, so beloved by birds. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Triangle+Pond/@26.1720552,127.6541421,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x34e569efb7fbab57:0x465dddfa94de705c!8m2!3d26.1720552!4d127.6563361
It is at its best! Big cohort of Black Faced Spoonbills, one of the rarest birds, and loads of wildfowl..
I drink it in and then drive home.
Not much drama but good all the same.
The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond 
Nice Stinking Pond display! That spoonbill looks really annoyed. I wonder what the doctor prescribed for your prostrate prostate? Good price for the medication but at your age it would be free here, as is my three months at a time load of ointments for my psoriais – despite the Tories cunning plans to sell the NHS to the US companies!
Spoonbills are prehistoric! Click twice on the photos to get full magnification of Spoonbill madness. I did not know that medication was free for old timers. I wonder if I qualify for healthcare in the UK? The Doc gives me stuff called Tadalafil. It is dynamite!
I believe that you would probably get free healthcare so long as you’ve not given up your UK citizenship! You’ll probably lose out on some forms of care and any pension would be at the lowest possible level. All this only applying if you are returning as a permanent resident, not just for a short visit!
Tadafil sounds interesting stuff. So long as you can acquire a comfortable chatity belt all should be well!
Lovely update – thanks! 😃
The ISO standard is year-month-date.
When I asked for an explanation I was given the example that someone is looking for a document/letter/file. If it’s 10 years down the road you would remember which year it was written before you’d think of the month or the exact date of the month. Then you’d think of the month, then date of the month.
Yay Paula!
Thanks, very interesting. Looks like the Japanese system is the right one. Actually they rarely use weirdo after Christ date but count years from the accession of the Emperor. So today is 05/03/07!
Great to hear from you, hope you are flourishing!