-One View of Hirakata-When I first came here, I thought Hirakata was a large city I had just never heard of. It turns out that most of Japan is this dense, and major cities just get denser. Coming from the suburbs, I feel like this might as well be Tokyo.
One of the nice things about Hirakata, and probably most of Japan, is that small businesses still exist. Where I'm from, anything that's not a name brand can't make it, and sometimes even the name brands fall to bigger giants. The small businesses make Hirakata seem more like a small town, because the services you can find are very personal and specific.
-Ostrich:Tastes Like Pot Roast-
My friends and I have been to several restaurants and stores in the past two weeks, and the person in charge has usually tried to talk to us and ask us about where we're from. When we went to buy our bikes, the shopkeeper had a conversation with us about Obama. When we went to go eat ostrich at a restaurant, the manager came and had a casual conversation with us. There have been several times when we couldn’t read the menu and the workers struggled to speak English so we could understand. I think if that happened in America, you’d just be left to wonder what you were paying for. It's nice to see that kind of service and dedication to the customers.
-Hirakata: View From A Park-
Really? You ate ostrich? Did you eat the crocodile as well? How was it?
ReplyDeleteI am glad to see you are exploring and interating in your new neighborhood. You will learn a lot by doing this.
Yes, I ate ostrich. It tastes like roast, you should try it if you get a chance. I haven't eaten crocodile yet though.
ReplyDeleteI've also eaten whale and horse, which I recommend you try as well.