Inaka Japan

So far Tanabe seems to be a welcome break from the crowds of Tokyo. The city is right on the beach, though the district encompasses a really large area. The city is pretty ugly, but there are some beautiful mountains surrounding the built up area. Dress, at least for most people (teenage girls excluded) seems to be far more relaxed, so much so that I even saw a woman in baggy sweat pants at the grocery store the other day. Even speech patterns seem to be less formal. I have even found Japans answer to red necks, old male farmers who sit outside the grocery store (with cowboy hats on) getting drunk in the middle of the day and talking rapidly in a regional accent.

Despite the ugly concrete buildings there are also a lot of narrow winding streets with traditional style Japanese houses, and small gardens or rice fields strewn throughtout the middle of the city. It is quite clear that farming and fishing are both very important to the local economy.

Though the city is inaka (very rural/ countryside) by japanese standards, it does have 2 malls, Pavillion City (or as people in Tanabe say "Pavi-shi") and O-city. The only way to really describe them is to imagine beach malls at home, you know the ones that still have old stores like Roses or K-mart attached to them. The highlight of these malls as far as I am concerned is Mr. Donut. Supposidly an American donut shop out of Boston, Mr. Donut is the only place that sells really sweet (by American standards) baked goods. I am lucky or un-lucky enough to have one very close to my apartment.