This is the second way they advertise their candidates. They stand at train stations and bus stops with banners and shout out their propaganda. The third way is that they go around the neighborhoods in vans with loud speakers blasting the airwaves. I find this last one very annoying but the locals seem to accept it. Anyway I think the election is over soon.

There are obviously some political campaigns going on in Japan at the present. All over the city are these billboards and all the candidates have a number where they can put their posters. This seems to be the only place to put posters, I don't see any in other locations. It does keep the city clean, not like in Canada where there are posters all over lawn, boulevards and hydro poles. This is one of the ways they advertise here.

This is a picture looking out onto Matsudo City from our staffroom window at the university.

This is Jim's favorite, those shrimp are incredible.

This is one of the restaurants that we frequent and it is close to the university. Colleen,s favorite is the one in the centre, a vegetable and cheese dish.

Plastic food is displayed at most restaurants here to let you know what is on the menu and also the actual size of the serving, I think it is a great ideas, especially for foreigners like ourselves. There is a whole industry over here that just manufactures plastic food for displays.

There aren't only pigeons in London, there are plenty of them in Tokyo as well.

The staff from the British Isles had been talking about these kebabs they always eat at home and I said I had never heard of them. That same weekend we were in Tokyo and we saw this guy selling kebabs. I had to try one and it was delicious. I had a hot beef kebab in a pita shell, try one if you ever get a chance.

These students were performing as Hawaiian dancers . It was a very cool day so they must have been cold posing for pictures .

These are some of the students entertaining at the university festival.

We pass by this tree every morning on our way to the bus stop.

It is near the end of November but there are still lots of flowers blooming here.

They do some decorating for Christmas here, these lights were placed on the trees at our university this week. Christmas here is not celebrated really and it is not a holiday. Because it falls on a Monday this year people will be a work as usual.

These are rooms at the university where courses are offered. I don't know about the tearoom but I think some of our Canadian students could learn something in the manners room. The students at this university are so polite and well-mannered that they are a pleasure to teach.

More cakes, they are quite amazing.

These were some of the cakes that were on display at the university last weekend.

This is a picture of one of the piano rooms at our university. There were approximately 100 pianos in this room and many side rooms with more pianos, there was also another floor which was similiar. The students here use headphones and noone else can hear them play. Music is one of the major subjects taught at Seitoku University.

Not everyone parks their bike in the parking lot but whereever there is available space. Bikes are used by many people for shopping for groceries, transporting children, or for just getting to a department store. All ages use bicyles even those in their 80's and 90's. Again, do you think there is something to this exercise idea?

This is a structure that you are not likely to see in Manitoba. It is a 3-storey parking lot for bicyles. Hmm, maybe that is why the Japanese life-span is longer than in Canada. The majority of Japanese people are slim and fit but McDonald's is raising havoc with some of them.

This is how the mail is delivered in Japan, no pounding the pavement here. This shot was taken outside our apartment today. There are lots of motor bikes here and are ridden by young people and grandmothers alike. This is more a country for this mode of transportation as it can pretty well be used year round, at least in Tokyo.

This is a picture of a house near our apartment and shows that not all housing is of the tiny nature here. This house is quite large by Japanese standards but I think we are living in a well-to-do area of the city.

This picture was taken in the city of Matsudo, the city in which our university is situated. This is near the train station and you can see the many overhead walkways that take people over the streets to avoid the traffic.

This is a farm near our apartment and they must be doing well judging by the size of their house. They are still planting this time of year so they seem to have crops almost all year round.

This little restaurant on the corner is a ramen (noddle) shop where we have eaten many times. The price is right and the food is good. The hiragana over the door says "ramen" and we can actually read it now. Colleen and I have memorized the hiragana alphabet and it has really helped. We are not totally illiterate anymore but we have much to learn yet. We now have to learn the katakana alphabet. As for the thousands of Kanji characters, I'm not sure what we will do about that.