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Rick Cogley
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Scaffolding went up before the old “jikka“ ancestral home was torn down. Four years ago already! 📷🏡

Yesterday our 大掃除 “ohsouji” or “Big Tidy” task was replacing the ugly brown mats we’d laid downstairs with nice wood-like flooring. Took all day & was really hard, but looks good & we can use the heated floor. 💦

This weekend is 大掃除 “ohsouji” or the “Big Tidy” as I like to call it, where the nooks and crannies get so clean even Marie Kondo blushes. If you’re not in Japan, do you do this? 📷🇯🇵🧽🧹

8000 US $ per hour?! Wow.

Udagawa Yu-sui-chi is a little nature conservation area near a park we take Maru the Shiba to almost daily. You can’t go down into it but you can peer at it to see birds. 📷🦆

Snaps of a Hillman in Higashi Azabu, 2016.

Dec 9 is International Anti-Corruption Day. Corruption follows and causes conflict globally, and is inherently undemocratic. It’s worth your thoughts and fight! 🤛

https://www.un.org/en/observances/anti-corruption-day

Japan marks Dec 8 as “Start of the Pacific War Day” although we don’t really hear about it that much. May all those who died at Pearl Harbor and after, rest in peace. 😔

RIP Norman Lear whose work shaped my childhood. 101! Such influence; a life well lived. 🖤🤍

Dec 7 is World Kamishibai Day! It’s the art of telling a story to children while showing cards mounted in a box, popularized in Japan in the 1930s. Have you seen it or something similar? 🇯🇵👩‍👩‍👧‍👦

https://www.kamishibai-ikaja.com/en/kamishibai-eng.html

Atsuta Horaiken is a famous eel shop in Nagoya since 1873. Two hour wait, and 3100 yen for lunch in 2011! The servers looked bored, but were chatting, pretty in their pajama-like purple kimono uniforms. 📷🇯🇵

23andMe confirmed the leak of 6.9 million users’ ancestry data. That’s just stunningly bad. You’d think they’d have superior cyber security but no, they’re only just now getting around to requiring 2FA. 😱

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/12/hackers-stole-ancestry-data-of-6-9-million-users-23andme-finally-confirmed/

Besides it being my sister’s birthday 🥳 it’s also International Volunteer Day. Did you know you can volunteer online? 🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️

https://www.un.org/en/observances/volunteer-day https://app.unv.org/

At my checkup, asked about flu shots this yr, and they had had a cancellation so I jumped on it. Got a garlic and B vitamins shot to counteract the flu shot. Ever had? 💉🦠

Can I get your PIN? At a 370 yr old wagashi sweets shop in Nagoya called Ryokuchiya Korekiyo, 2011. This person was kindly explaining and answering my many questions. 📷🇯🇵🍡

For #MicroMonday I’d like to share and thank Sven Dahlstrand (@sod), who is a great help in the m.b forum & makes great posts and plugins. 📅🙏🏻

https://micro.blog/discover/micromonday https://dahlstrand.net/about/

In 2010, the famous dept store Matsuya in Ginza Tokyo was wearing a Louis Vuitton livery. 📷🇫🇷

Some snaps from a morning jog in Tennozu Isle Shinagawa Tokyo, 2016. It’s a whole feeling to wander among these buildings when there’s nobody around. 📷🏢

Dec 3rd is “International Day of Persons with Disabilities” a day to reflect on what you have, and how you can help differently-abled others. 🤗

https://www.un.org/en/observances/day-of-persons-with-disabilities

Dec 2 is World Nuclear Energy Day, from Fermi’s success on this day in 1942, in getting the first sustained chain reaction at Pile-1 in Chicago. Ponder the pros and cons today. ☢️🌐

https://worldnuclearenergyday.org/