Summer; Cicadas; Ramen

It's been a long, hot summer here in Tokyo. In the 90s pretty much everyday, only cools down to about 80 at night, high 70s if I'm lucky. I'm sure those of you back in DC have little sympathy for me here!

I'm going to try to give you all some local flavor. After you spend a couple summers in Japan, you realize there are different kinds of cicadas, and you can tell them by the way they sound. Their names in Japanese mimic their sounds. Cicadas back in the States make a long, steady droning sound, that slowly crescendos and then falls away, a long "minnnnnnnnnnnn". The most common cicada in Japan makes a similar noise, but in a repetitive, stacatto fashion: "min min min min min". Hence their name, min min zemi. But as you get into late summer, and the fireworks festivals have finished and the days start getting shorter, you start to hear a second cicada. It's called a tsuku tsuku hoshi, and it sounds just like its name. Running in the park near my house, Komazawa Koen, the last few days, I've begun to hear the tsuku tsuku hoshi getting stronger, and the min min zemi fading away.

Anyway, some more local flavor -- here is a picture of what Yuko and I ate last night at our favorite local izakaya/ramen-ya. Miso ramen. Yumm.