Rant! And an OOTD, of course

     With the concerns brought about by the earthquake/tsunami/power plant disaster fading into the background for most Tokyoites, daily life is practically 100% back to normal. Which is both good...and bad, in a way. At least for the first few weeks after the earthquake, the city, while a bit uneasy, was kind of quiet and more slower-paced than usual. Now it's back to rush rush rush and work work work for everyone, even those who really don't need to be working in the first place.
      Japan often lauds its very low unemployment rate, which is, you know a good thing. But to keep it so low and shiny the government and the big corporations implement a lot of "make work" projects, which are not exactly (and in many cases, not at all) necessary.
     Case in point? Our neighborhood has essentially been an ongoing construction site for as long as we've lived here, practically 2 years now. From 9 am to sundown, 5 days a week, an army of jumpsuited laborers in trucks, vans, and heavy-duty machines tear up our streets, forcing cars (and sometimes even pedestrians) to take detours to get around. A few months ago, it was to even out the pavement. Then to repaint the traffic markings. This month? To do something with the water pipes, which were never a problem to begin with. They left fliers all over town to let us know that they'd be turning off the water for one day, for four hours. Kind of annoying, but manageable. Of course they forgot to tell us that on other days the water, while not turned off, would be sputtery, rusty, and pretty much unusable in the mornings. Great. Today, our day off, was spent listening to the endless drone of construction outside and enjoying the constant vibration of our entire building. As soon as they went on lunch break and the water was relatively back to normal, we hurried to shower, do the washing up, and do laundry. So annoying. And since it will probably be the same tomorrow, I have to make sure I'm done using the water before 9am. Not exactly a restful way to spend my Sunday morning. Ugh. Reason #1958 I'm happy to be leaving Tokyo this year.
     Well, rant over! On a less whiny note, I recently wore a casual outfit that I really enjoyed. I've worn the same ensemble a number of times, actually, so it's high time I put it up on this blog!

White tunic blouse and white long-sleeve shirt (F21), frilled leather  jacket (quoi quoi Japan),
jeans/jeggings (Zara), teal beaded necklace (Rope Picnic Japan)

The pin-tucks and pleating give the tunic an interesting shape

     The blouse was one of those cheap but good and not tacky F21 finds (rare, but they do exist), and is perfect for spring and summer. And that necklace is fast becoming my favorite accessory!
     Well that's all for today... now off to see if the water is clear enough to make myself a cup of tea...

Edit: Another rant! My little bro and I had plans to play Borderlands together on our PS3s this week. It sounds a little lame, I know, but I love my bro and living in different countries means we don't talk or hang out very often at all, so this is one way to spend some sibling time together. BUT OF COURSE this happens to be the week that Sony shut down the PSN because some douche hacked into it or something. And of course they have no idea when they can get it back up again. Arrrrgh.
Okay, I'll stop now. I promise!