Alarm Clock

We have a phone line that—while it’s located in Japan—is actually a US phone number. Telemarketers who call me at 3am find this difficult to understand and keep trying to insist Chris really did drop something in the mail in Florida this week asking for information on local politicians. Anyway, I was whining about this to my mom, who asked how I prefer to be woken up (at normal times). I considered…I hate the alarm clock we have to use here (six-minute snooze—worthless). And I don’t like getting woken up by the loud left turn warning trucks have. But today I woke up because I heard festival drums. Now THAT is a nice alarm clock! My house is not on this map so I was unsure of their route, but around 9:30am I was getting ready for church to the ebbing and swelling waves of drums and festival music. Then the parade turned onto my street! It’s a kid parade (complete with a mikoshi—portable shrine)! Kawai!