I think owning a vehicle in foreign countries involves experiencing social and cultural differences. In Japan, we have “sha-ken“, that is mandatory vehicle road-worthiness inspection, comparable to MOT in the UK. While MOT is a checkup of basic vehicle functionalities, Sha-ken is rather the “preventive maintenance” of vehicles and it’s costly here in Japan. This time, it cost me “only”, I would say, a total of 93,000 yen, however, it cost me more than 200,000 yen two years ago, because I had to have brake pads, brake cylinders, ATF and others replaced with the new ones. The next time will be a headache again. I will have to replace …
Monthly Archives: June 2014
Roses in Safety Islands
Roses are the flower of my living district, Shiroishi ward in Sapporo city, and we can enjoy roses in the safety islands along Kanjodori Boulevard. The budget probably comes from the Hokkaido prefecture. I would definitely say YES for an increase of the budget to make the view better. There had been an exquisite nice rose garden in the hillside of Mt. Moiwa that commanded a nice view of Sapporo city. Although the garden was privately owned, it had been open for public. I think that many of the Sapporo citizens were disappointed to hear the garden was closed. The largest rose garden in Hokkaido is the one in Iwamizawa, …