On Sunday, Judy and I went up to Omiya in Saitama to spend the afternoon with some friends. From November 2002 through January 2003, I lived there in a tiny one-room apartment about 10 minutes from the station (Judy joined me in September after she switched jobs).

Unfortunately, the majority of my time in Omiya was marked by a number of troubles, especially involving my apartment, such as: the fact that it had paper walls and zero insulation, meaning during the winter it was colder inside than outside; the robbery in June 2003, resulting in the loss of not only all of my valuables, but two years’ worth of digital photos as well; the Humidity Incident of August 2003, during which everything in my apartment became covered with mold; the two ladies of the night who moved in next door and woke us up every day at 4:00 in the morning when they returned from their “exploits”; and countless others.

Yet, despite all of this, when we were back there this past weekend, I actually found myself feeling somewhat nostalgic for the time I lived there. Strange, in a way. All in all, I suppose Omiya is a decent place to live for a person who works an hour and a half outside of Tokyo, but as far as I’m concerned, nothing compares to living in the big smoke (sure, neither place has much in the way of charm, but what whuddaya gonna do?).

- - - - - -

Here are a few older photos taken at the Hikawa Shrine, which is about a 20 minutes’ walk from Omiya Station: