I've not been looking forward to today. One of our employment requirements is an annual half-day medical check up, called 'ningen dokku' in Japanese, it has that image of a human being put in a dry dock, in just the same a ship get hauled in to get the once over...
That means no eating for 12 hours prior, an early start, a change into hospital robes (colour-coded according to size so those of us choosing 'comfortable' blue stand out among the more common 'medium' beige) and then lining up and moving around the clinic in directed order according to number, pricked and prodded, ecg'd and bariumed, ears, eyes nose...on it goes.
And then it is done. There is complimentary coffee at the end and a meal voucher for when you feel like eating again.
Back out on the street, I was pleased to be able to capture a nice little connect to a concert earlier this year.
You might recall, dear reader, I attended a mandolin concert whereupon the district mayor declared his intention to turn Toshima-ku into a music city and he had statues to prove it.
It just so happens I had to walk through that little dedicated lane on the way to the clinic...and true to his word...
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| The ward song |
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| Treble clef |
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| Floral notes |
And knowing just how I was feeling, on the home stretch, just a few doors down from the house, summer's last cicada I reckon, doing his best to keep summer going.
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| The last silhouette of summer |
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| Keeping it going |
I know exactly how he felt.
[Camera : iPhone6s, 11.59am-12.00noon; Lumix TZ-85, 1.29pm; 15 September 2017]
