So I had heard a couple of days ago that there was a murder in Akashi, which is the name of the big town that I live in. I live in a small town called Futami, which is in the western part of Akashi. I found out yesterday that the murder happened just a couple of blocks from my apartment, in a ramen restaurant that I’ve been to a couple of times.
The story is that there was only one employee closing the place down, sometime after 3 a.m. He was killed with a knife, and the place was robbed. There aren’t many gun crimes in Japan, so I think most crimes are at knifepoint. The sister of one of the part time helpers at my yakitori hangout worked there – I had ordered noodles from her before. I’ll have to find out what happened from the folks at the yakitori – I’m sure they’ll have the whole scoop.
It was a big surprise to me – I’ve been used to walking around without fear. It served as a good reminder that you are never 100% safe, and to be careful wherever you go.
My cold is starting to go away. My cough has died down, and I’m feeling much better. I’m hoping to be healthy by Friday. I haven’t been exercising since I’ve been sick, and I’m dying to burn some calories. Saturday is a free day for me – I’ll probably end up doing laundry and if I’m healthy, taking a hike. Sunday I’m working as an interviewer for the STEP test – it’s an easy job that pays really well. The tradition is that after the test we go to Graciani’s for a big dinner – that should be very nice.
Classes today went really well. My second year class did a great job with the food activity – they run around the classroom piecing together a sushi recipe. They were actually looking up words in their dictionaries without being prompted – it was unbelievable. Mr. Yamamoto, the somewhat scary teacher, had a belly laugh at the sight of all the students running around like crazy trying to solve the puzzle. I think he liked it.
