Cicadas and Nurses

Two things hit me as I was walking home this evening. I have noticed both before, but I was still thinking about them when I walked into the apartment...



Cicadas: They are deafening. You hear them all around trees in the parks and outside the building at Chiyoda. I don't ever remember hearing them as loud as they are here. There is concrete everywhere but they find the trees.



Nurses: They still wear white uniforms and hats just like the '50s at the hospital across the street from my apartment. It is a teaching hospital and it may not be the same everywhere in Japan. But they all look much more professional and proper than in the United States. This is probably a good place to get sick if you have to do it.

I may not have written about the time I got sick here. It was just the sinus infection I usually get after my allergies in the spring. Demo, ima genki desu. I went to a doctor with my secretary. He charged me 3000 yen ($25) if I remember right and that included the prescription for antibiotics and cough medicine. My secretary said that was a bit more than if I had gone to the clinic, but I didn't have to wait - I walked straight in. All without health insurance. He had just bought a 1957 Chevrolet Belair convertible and showed me a picture of it.

Oyasumi nisai...