Biohazard

UPDATE - Shoukaki is a fire extinguisher (and its contents).

Today was otherwise uneventful, except for a kid having an accident during one of my lessons.

However, upon entering my apartments, the air was noticeably cloudy, as if a lot of dust had just been unleashed. Looking down, there was pink powder everywhere. A man was standing by the opposite steps to mine trying to sweep it into a pile. His daughter was on the phone looking bothered. I asked them what it was, to which I received the reply "shougaki"* and told them good luck. The last I saw, whilst taking a sneaky photo (during which time the girl caught me but smirked at my curiosity), was the man pouring a bucket of water down the steps. The stuff was everywhere.

*No idea. One of the most frustrating parts of feeling confident to use Japanese is that I can ask the questions, but don't understand the answers.