The last three days I was able to enjoy some wonderful sun in a Japan where the summer was already supposed to have ended. Friday was spent with my friends Jaehwan, Sayaka, Lars, and Lars’ bicycling partner Tamara going to see an exhibition of a North Korean spy ship that had been sunk by Japan. Its rusting carcass had been raised an put on display for a host of curious mostly older Japanese. It was a nice extra touch to see a collection of flowers put there in honor of the dead North Korean spies. They also put on display a host of objects found on the boat, including weapons, clothes, Kim Jong Il badges, a “self-destruct” button (the presentation claims that after being shot at, the ship exploded itself), and various Japanese electronics they had with them.
On Saturday Sayaka and I rented bicycles for the ridiculously cheap price of 200 yen. Musashino city, apparently famous for programs like this, offers rental of bicycles at one of its bicycle parking centers for less than $2 a day. We hopped on our bikes and randomly wandered north, ending up in Wako city in Saitama before wandering back again for a full afternoon of random bike riding.
Yesterday I joined some of my friends from SIPA for a BBQ on a beach near Enoshima (鵠沼海岸, a stop on the 小田急 line) south of Tokyo. The beach was very nice, and we were able to enjoy swimming, great food, and some beach ball throughout the hot afternoon. It was partly to celebrate our friend Shuji Inatomi’s publishing of a book. It was also excellent to see other friends there, including Suguru, who was back for a short time from Thailand.