A Wonderful Day in the Neighborhood

This small shrine is located only about 100 meters from my house and I pass it everyday on the way to school.

This is one of my favorite parks which offers beautiful views and great people watching opportunities only a few minutes from seminar house 3.

This past month I have been living in the neighborhood of Katahokohigashimachi, in Hirakata, Osaka.  This is the neighborhood in which my seminar house is located, and although the seminar house does result in some separation from the surrounding area, it has not been enough to hide the small beauties and nuances of this area from me.  This neighborhood is filled with families and small but beautiful houses. The thing that has most captured me about Katahokohigashimachi is the small parks and shrines that are located throughout the area. In the pictures above I have included images of a couple of my favorite parks and shrines that I have stumbled upon in the past month. This is undoubtedly a lively and family friendly neighborhood characterized by small shops and children playing or biking in the street, but it is in these parks and shrines that I feel I have gotten the best impression of the neighborhood.   These areas are almost always filled with young children playing sports or sitting eating sweets and they are always excited to see foreigners and practice what little English they know as I am walking past. Simple “hellos” and “bye-byes” greet me and follow me on my walks through the parks and even those who know no English are always friendly and offer up an “ohaiyo gozaimas” or “kanbanwa” as I pass.  Additionally the amount of families doing things together is stunning.  Every time I pass the park I pictured above there are fathers pitching wiffle balls to their young children or family cookouts or mothers guiding young children on their tiny bicycles.   This is something  so different from my home neighborhood where interfamily relations are rarely seen outside someone’s  own house or yard.  This has given me the distinct impression that this is a small, closely knit neighborhood, with friendly and outgoing people and this has really challenged my preconceptions of Japan as a very private if not sheltered society.