More observations

So, I walked around yesterday. Here are some things that I noticed;

1. Streets with garbage cans on them — yeay!
2. White trash — boo! (I'd actually kind of forgotten about white trash and what it was all about. Japan doesn't so much have anything equivalent)
3. People who walk on the street at a normal speed — yeay! (One of my biggest gripes about Tokyo was how freakin slow everyone was)
4. Diversity — yeay! (Walking down the street I just kept staring, mouth agape, at all the non-Japanese looking people (basically everyone))
5. Pollution — boo! (It's only May, and there's already been Air Quality Advisories. Even in Tokyo, you couldn't acutally see the pollution, but here there's been a gross haze in the air since I arrived)

You are all, no doubt, very concerned with my ongoing shopping crises, so here is the latest. Shopping level seems acceptable (but far from great). Yesterday I went for a bit of a wander in the shops and there were some decent things. The calibre of fashion you see people wearing depends on what street you're on; Church St, dysmal; Bloor Street, pretty okay. The introduction of H&M has raised the stakes a bit I think (they weren't here before I left for Japan). One major problem: a derth of expensive underwear options. I went to Holt Renfrew (Canada's chi-chi department store for those non-Canuks reading), and all they had was boxer shorts! For three times the price of what they cost in Tokyo! I am most dismayed and dishearted by this recent development and may require the assistance of my Tokyo crew to aliviate this dire situation. I still a little bit couldn't believe it –I mean, boxer shorts are so 1993 people!