fukuoka-ken is pretty rural. when i lived further south, i was in a town where most people either commuted to a big city or were farmers or small shop owners (hahaha, i mean they owned small shops). even here in munakata, where we have three mcdonalds, there are plenty of fields. at the moment the farmers are starting to prepare them for rice. i love the rice paddies. i don't know why, maybe because it's so asian--my idea of japan. near my house there's a road that i frequently drive down and it goes between several fields. it's really pretty now with the watter and small rice plants. i'll have to take a picture and 'blog' about it.

on the hornet front: we still see the little bastard nearly every day. yoshi found out that recipe for the hornet trap and said he'd make one this weekend, so hopefully our killer bee will be history soon!