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driven by rain (to a genuine izakaya)

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Toronto, 2011.08.20

It rained all day at the cottage, so we decided by early afternoon to just head home.

I took the laundry to a new (to me) laundromat I'd spotted in the village, and then we made our way under spotty rain and steady wind. Mari struck upon the idea of heading to "J Village", a Japanese pedestrian shopping mall she knew of way up on the Toronto/Markham border. We veered off the highway at some point and threaded through the Oak Ridges moraine on Kennedy Road. It had finally cleared up (though briefly) for part of that drive and we really enjoyed the ups and downs. An added bonus - the best view of the city I've ever seen from land. Really the *only* view I've seen outside of a plane or one of the city centre's tall buildings.

When we got to "J Village" it was mostly closed but an izakaya was open. My first genuine hokke and tsukune and "grapefruit sour" since I left Japan. Sniff.

rand()m quote

It's difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.

—Anne Frank