Dying... Should Be Dead

It's been friggin' hot this week. I have probably been contributing to the melting of the polar ice caps by eating ice cream with a plastic, disposable spoon (wrapped in its own plastic), while basking in the musky cool that is the office A/C.

But Tokyo is STILL cooler than Osaka!

The onslaught of weather should have been pretty obvious from an afternoon stroll through Shimokitazawa a month or so ago. I got separated from the pack and went to check out a restaurant menu down an alley. As I was coming back, my Spidey Senses went a bit funny and I stopped and checked where I was putting my feet.

Sure enough, a few feet away, was what I THOUGHT was a dead rat. It was instead, a DYING rat. It was convulsing with its mouth slightly open and occasionally would twitch so badly that it would flip into the air.

I moved away post haste as an "EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" trailed behind me.

Within the hour after the rat drama, the group of us sat down for some afternoon refreshment at a cafe called ASSO. The waitress put a pile of small plates on our table, and as Hiro tried to distribute the plates, a large COCKROACH ran out from in between the plates and made a bid for freedom.

Hiro is obviously suited to working in the fire service, as he calmly trapped our roach friend under a plate and called the waitress.

A true "Hiro" in more ways than one!"

Summer — BE AFRAID.