Hi, all,

      On the way out of the mountains with my students today, I saw a "falling rocks" sign, and that reminded me of a few signs David and I saw this summer. In Gifu and Nagano prefectures, the signs were more creative than one usually sees. Needless to say, the mountains and the passing cars all had cute cartoon faces. In one, the mountain also had arms and was scowling as it hurled boulders at the car passing below. The car, for its part, had huge terrified eyes as it cowered under the onslaught. In the best sign we saw (I actually had to stop the car and back up to be sure I'd seen this right), the mountain was spitting a boulder at the terrified car. I've been kicking myself for not getting that sign on film.

Peter