Well, we're lacking in mists. But we can offer you another season of "haze". Which is actually not haze but horrible acrid smoke. Currently, it's the worst we've seen in our periods of residence in Malaysia.

Makes Oliviero Rainaldi's fuzzy people (currently on show at the Petronas Gallery) look very apt...





In terms of mellow fruitfulness, I would cite mooncakes. I love mooncake season. It's always a pleasure to taste, choose, and buy these auspicious little works of art.

Did you know there are Hello Kitty mooncakes? I can't believe we haven't bought any. Yet...



As well as the season of major air pollution and mooncakes, it's also the time when the Japanese Film Festival rolls round again (we missed it last year on account of the pressures of settling in to the new job, finding accommodation, and so on).

So, yesterday we watched Tokyo Losers, by Toshiyuki Morioka. Interesting... Based on a true story, it's about a struggling graphic artist who moves to Tokyo to pursue her career. Her talent doesn't totally seem to be on a par with her dream. But she persists, gets rid of her lacklustre boyfriend, finds her niche, and achieves some sort of success.

It's all pretty sombre. Her kitten dies, and her friend dies. And the film-maker is keen to make us understand that under the smooth veneer of developed Japan, with its culture of restraint, is a nasty layer of sexual harassment, poverty, and desperation. Natsumi supports herself by working in a horrible escort bar, most of whose clients you just long to slap. Rice-balls form her staple diet. The boyfriend doesn't have much drive -- but at least he's prepared to stay alive, unlike many others.

(On the subject of cats and Japan, by the way, I recently came across cat islands and cat maps.)

To underline the Japanese theme of the evening, we had an early dinner at Watami ("Japanese Casual Dining"). Very nice: edamame; excellent tempura with a thin, smoky dip; gyoza; and green tea. If we'd gone after the movie, I would have ordered rice-balls.