オーストラリアからです。 (I'm from Australia)

When I meet any Japanese person 'on the street', their first question is usually 'what country are you from?'

On hearing 'Australia', they'll usually respond by saying some random word or sentence they know about Australia.

"Where are you from?"
"I'm from Australia."
"Ohh, Australia! Nicole Kidman!"

"Where are you from?"
"I'm from Australia."
"Oh, very nice! Great Barrier Reef!"

Usually it's because they don't really speak any English and are pleased to show something they know about Australia. ^_^ Often, if I speak to someone who isn't a student, who doesn't really speak English, they will speak Japanese with sudden, random English words thrown in, as they remember them. To be fair, when I speak to my co-workers, I do pretty much the same thing with Japanese... haha...

A couple of days ago I went to Minka-en, in Kawasaki. It's a traditional folk house open-air museum, with lots of old houses from around Japan, which were imported and reassembled in this park. There were some volunteers at this park, and as I sat down to rest by the hearth in one of the houses, we got to talking.

"What country are you from?"
"I'm from Australia."
"Oh, Australia! Honey! Honey!"

For a brief, confused moment I wondered if he was flirting with me (he was at least 60 years old) but he said something about Japanese farmers and Australian bees. Today I read in Metropolis magazine: "After Japan stopped importing honey bees from Australia in 2007 following a disease outbreak, farmers growing melons, cherries and strawberries here have been forced to pollinate their buds manually." That's probably what he was talking about.

The follow-up question to "where are you from" is usually "where in Australia are you from?"

When I say, 'Adelaide', the next question is: "...is that near Sydney?"

Mm... it's really not near anything...

***

I am very happy to report that I found a source of scones.

Now, scones are rarely to be found in cafes or coffee shops here. I've found two coffee shops in Kawasaki that serve them. Both of them are very much the kind of '$12 for a single cup of coffee' place, and I just can't bring myself to go in there.*

*(Incidentally, what's with that?! The first time I saw $12 cappuccinos was in Italy, and I thought it was amazing, but at least those expensive ones were at really prime locations, like in Piazza San Marco in Venice. You're not paying $12 for a coffee; you're paying $12 for the privilege of sitting surrounded by such beauty. Here in Japan, you're paying $12 to sit in some kitsch cafe in the corner of a random department store or underground mall.)

I also haven't found them in any bakeries here - and I have been looking, all the past week, because I've been craving them.

Anyway, I have found three places which sell fresh scones.
One of them is the store 'Mrs Elizabeth Muffin' which is in the Landmark Tower. It's a muffin shop, but they have some scones. I bought a couple last week. They weren't quite like normal scones though; they tasted a bit more like cookies, though scone-shaped. They were nice though.
The other two are in my very own suburb. The other day I was walking home via a different route, and I found something called the 'Yokohama Scone Factory'. Both times I've passed it, it's been closed, so I must try during the morning.

Finally, there's this little baking school shop just a few metres down the street from my house, where there is a small selection of scones in the window, and virtually nothing else. I've not bought there before since they close at night, but today I finally got some, and they taste good. ^_^

I am very, very lucky. I've been scouring every bakery and cafe I could find in Kawasaki and Yokohama; could not find a single scone; yet on my own street!!... A student gave me homemade strawberry jam, so I'm having a little scone party tonight. ^_^

Speaking of stores on my street, *directly across the street from my house*, they're opening a new supermarket. It won't be open for another month or two, but it's kind of funny. 300m down the road is an existing supermarket, but now I won't have to walk the laborious two minutes down the road to get to that one; I can pass one every day on my way to work. It will be nice, though it seems slightly unnecessary.