Two Train Station Stories

On the way back from an Onsen with my girlfriend, then I pack and head to Thailand. Yesterday while I was waiting to meet her at the train station, I saw a man, maybe mid 30s, dressed as a school girl, with one of those short brown plaid skirts. Mannish face, though with a wig, and very mannish legs, though shaven. It wasn't completely obvious it was a guy, but clear enough with a second look.

That kind of thing isn't so common in Fukuoka, so I looked at people passing him expecting expressions of shock. But there weren't any. So uncommon is it that no-one did a double take. They just took it at face value that it was a not very attractive woman.

Kana came a moment later, and I mentioned it in passing. It turned out that at about the same time, she had seen something interesting on the other side of that station. When she was waiting at the crosswalk she saw an old man waiting on the other side of the road with a pigeon perched on his shoulder, like a parrot. This was getting a reaction from passersby. He stood with such confidence, such poise...as if it was perfectly natural for one to have a such a magnificent pet at ones' side.

Then the walk light turned green, and the man began to move, the pigeon flew off, and the man recoiled and flailed in terror, unsure of what was happening. He had been completely oblivious that it was there. That was a better story, as people watching stories go.