Have a Nice Day

I'm suffering from allergies big time. My body just isn't used to the pollen Japan throws at its residents every year. In the past, I haven't really had too big of a problem, but I think things are different this year. It hasn't rained lately and it's been quite windy: perfect conditions to rip the pollen from the trees and carry it all over town... and then leave it in the air.

This image is from the 2013 pollen season in Georgia.

Georgia turns yellow in the spring from the pollen. Tokyo does not. But the Cedar trees that were planted about 50-60 years ago for lumber and reforestation are now mature and producing pollen each year at their peak ability, one of the reasons Japanese people suffer so much more from allergies now compared to, well, 30-40 years ago.

Japanese cedar pollen

How bad is it? In a moment of nasal clarity, I could actually smell cedar in the air this evening. I may actually wear a mask outside tomorrow. It is supposed to rain Thursday and Sunday, and I'm really looking forward to some air-washing showers from above.

Meanwhile, I was just introduced to this awesome video. It was mostly shot in Akihabara, my favorite haunt in Tokyo. In fact, I can identify almost every single location, shot by shot. And it's a really cool video. ... No, I'm not in it. But if World Order wants to use me in a video, I'm down for that.

The song is called Have A Nice Day (hence the post title), by a group called World Order. I'm writing this post quite late at night, so I haven't looked at their other videos, but you can expect to see more of them on this blog in the near future!