it's a lovely clear day today, not very warm (and if i weren't pregnant i'd probably be enjoying it) but it's so hazy. that's the dust from china. the other day they had a bad storm, the dust even reached tokyo. ever since i moved to japan, i have been told about this spring occurance. since we're so close to korea (and china), i guess fukuoka gets a lot of the dust (compared to the rest of japan). on the one hand i wonder if it's poisonous, china not being well-known for it's anti-pollution methods. on the other, it's just a bother, coating things with a fine layer of dust. didn't stop me (or my neighbors) from putting our laundry and futons out to dry. and i guess we're lucky we're not in china.