This week for my second year junior high school classes we read a story about pets that got displaced after the 1995 Kobe earthquake. The disaster is nearing its 20-year anniversary, and if you go to Kobe now, you would have no idea how devastated it was after the earthquake, save for some plaques and memorials around the city. It has rebuilt itself very nicely. These are some photos from a recent trip to Kansai, taken around the Sannomiya and Motomachi areas.

I love the rendering of colours in this one.

Making the dough for some of the best nikumans anywhere in the world.