Mr Roger's My Neighbourhood

Y'all have seen the inside of my apartment, so why don't we take a walk around the neighbourhood this time?

First off, some basic facts. Sukagawa is a small town just 30 minutes south by car from the city of Koriyama in the the Ken-chuu district of Fukushima Prefecture. They're quite proud of having the prefecture's major airport in their backyard. The local population numbers about 80,000, and a lot of them own land on which they plant crops like rice, pears, peaches (oh the peaches) and vegetables like corn and leeks (yes, the bent leeks that were featured on Yakitate! Japan).

When I first got my posting, I did some research and discovered that this was a bit of a rural district. I must admit I was a little disappointed because I was expecting to live in a shack in the middle of nowhere surrounded by cows in pastures. Not that that was a bad thing, since I like (tipping) cows, but I thought I wouldn't like living in the sticks far away from conveniences such as stores, transport and most importantly the local Animate and Mandarake.

Turns out the local definition of "the sticks" is vastly different from the Australian one, where it means your backyard is so big it takes a while for you to walk to your neighbour's. Here's why:


Back in Sydney, I had to take a 15 minute bus ride (not including waiting time) to the nearest Westfield to get my groceries. Here, there are at least 2 major supermarket chains within walking or biking distance just down the road from where I live, as well as a major shopping mall (and the local Daiso! 100 yen goodness!) not much further away. How's that for convenience?

If you're one of those who read my other web journal a long time ago, congratulations, you're special. You might also recall I took photos of the local manhole covers in Tokyo. Guess what? It looks like each town has it's own design. Here are Sukagawa's:


They really like peonies here; in fact it's the city's official flower (see the next post for why). That fan shaped symbol in the middle of the cover is the town's official logo. I can't remember the official explanation of its design, nor am I able to hunt down any info of it, but I seem to recall reading somewhere that it's supposed to look like someone waving a flag... or something.

Here's the shopping mall I mentioned above. It's called Loc Town and it boasts a 24 hour supermarket, the local Macca's, clothing, electronics and lifestyle shops, and the biggest bank of gashapon machines in the city. Joy!


This is the local pachinko parlour, a large, impressive building across the street from Loc Town. Since I'm technically a civil servant, I'm not really supposed to go in there, so this is the only pic you'll be getting of it. That being said, I've been told that I might be able to see half the staff from the city hall in there if I went ^^;;;

Local architecture and the train station at 6 in the morning:


The best thing about living here is that there's a lot more breathing space than in a big city. People are also a lot more friendly and willing to help or just have a chat with new arrivals to their neighbourhood. Heck, the people at the combini next door already know me by sight and sound and are always ready to ask me how my day was when I pop in to get onigiri or bread for breakfast. I think I'm going to like it here ^^