Who else is subjecting themselves to the wonderful world of National Novel Writing Month this year?

Here I sit in a cafe, listening to progressively stranger music as the shadows lengthen outside. My trusty Alphasmart sits before me, patiently awaiting my abuse, but I have questions for myself first.

What on earth am I writing?

In a previous post, I mentioned the odd things that happen which seem very particular to Kyoto. The inflatable cake that appears by the river. Plaques dedicated to fallen samurai that never explain who the samurai actually was. Stamp rally madness (all right, that’s pretty prevalent throughout Japan).

There are lots of strange little things that happen around here- things a lot of people who live in the area take for granted, but can seem a bit funny to those who are not locals. With that in mind, I’ve started working on a series of little snippets about these odd things.

As I’ve been doing this, I’ve noticed one particular story emerging from the rest of them: a story that was born from a joke someone made while I wandered Fushimi Castle a few weeks back.

I’ll share more details if something comes of it, but for now, I’m eager to go with the flow and see what becomes of this little story. Maybe it’ll turn out to be nothing, or maybe there’ll be something worth salvaging in this mess come December. Either way, I look forward to finding out.