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Thursday, September 30
[Inner Yamanote]posted by peter at 17:37 .......Another switch was flipped somewhere and the weather turned gorgeous, albeit perhaps a tad windy as I found out when walking towards Tokyo Tower and actually having to take a step backwards during a particularly strong gust. The tower is vaguely interesting but definitely not worth the trek; I didn't bother going up or anything.
Before that, swanning into the embassy (although my belt set off the metal detector) I located an information desk and voted in this year's Federal election, oh I hope we get a change of management this time around. We have very little to be proud of from the last few years; successful nationhood is not limited to economic progress, although that's what the finance types would have you believe. Yes I am a full-blown consumer and no I can never have enough money but behind all of that is a desire for something much more socially conscious.
And on that note I'm booked for an all-nighter with friends in Shibuya tonight... wish me luck...
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[2:19 (or so)]posted by peter at 02:24 .......I am not sleeping now. My heart beats strangely and everything I am seems artificial. Perhaps a ghost lurks above me, or the humours sense an imminent quake. This is killing me. I am not asleep.
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[The dark forest]posted by peter at 10:02 .......So I decided to climb Mt Takao last Friday, which was all very well but for the fact that I got a bit lost.
Twice.
Well the first time doesn't really count because I simply didn't know that I had to change trains at Chofu, and therefore ended up in Hashimoto rather than Takaosanguchi.
The second time does count because I was stumbling down a narrow, slippery path on the wrong side of the mountain at dusk in light rain with a near-flat mobile phone. I even had to ford a river. After that the path got narrower.
Eventually I found a mysterious man who was burning mysterious things in the woods (yes, very VERY Blair Witch) who told me how to get to the station, but unfortunately forgot to tell me that I was on the wrong side of the mountain and thus was a VERY long way from the said station. Finally I emerged on a road at the edge of a township, and more discourse with locals revealed that a bus would be the only viable way to return to my train line, albeit at a different, CLOSER station.
On the whole it was a lovely walk... there were vending machines the whole way up (and I still managed to get lost on such a mountain) and I listened to my 'Perfect Afternoon Trio' (Blue, The Covers Record and Pink Moon).
I also met two Japanese aspiring actors. In fact I fell over in front of them on the slippery downward path. They shouted out "Danger! Danger!"; it was all I could do from screaming back "High voltage..."
I met them again on the bus.
Anyway, back safe and sound... on rolled the weekend and on Saturday night I attended a hardcore punk show in Koenji. Six bands played, five of which were Japanese (who favour chaotic noise) and one of which was Mexican (they wore strange masks and had a slightly tighter sound)... all very cool and the dark basement was a fun venue.
Afterwards we hung out with all the local punks on the street, getting moved on by myriad shop owners and eventually the police on bicycles. The crowd dispersed and I crashed at Genta's, having declined to attend the after party due to the next day's work.
And thus passed my weekend.
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[Off track]posted by peter at 17:40 .......Well I seem to have a knack for coming down the wrong side of mountains and getting significantly lost... details to follow if I ever get home...
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[Weep]posted by peter at 19:01 .......Why anyone would feel the need to share with the whole class the fact that they have a massive canker sore (yep, vocab check) growing at the back of their throat is beyond me. It really is.
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[Concrete sighs]posted by peter at 01:53 .......Hello fair person in bright city canyon, not that your eyes flicked my way. On this grey corner in the time between lights I've got you summed. I know who you are. You are defined. Marked. I know why white knuckles cling to an orange foldup bike which cost more for the convenience.
But all this surety could never have prepared me for the glance, when it came, massive forces tearing at rocks and uprooting tall buildings. What was left of me slunk away, reflected in some glass exoskeleton by the side of a busy road in a crowded community with a coffee shop on every corner.
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[Itch]posted by peter at 18:03 .......People on Tokyo's public transport system don't seem to realise that they are, in fact, NOT ensconced in a bubble of privacy, and that therefore activities such as nose picking, ball scratching and countless other violations are NOT okay.
But I am not the one to let them know.
I am so excited about potential travel plans I could just die.
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[After the jazz band]posted by peter at 21:15 .......The tennis aftermath was a decidedly low-key affair: we played darts.
At least I got out of the tennis.
Work was a no-brainer. Very sad to have farewelled Jess and Kylie. Oh the places we went.
(Mt Fuji was invisible this time.)
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[Beautification]posted by peter at 11:54 .......AND...
In keeping with everyone's apparent desire to turn Japan into a toxic waste dump, they have just cut down the tree outside my window. I can't think why. I imagine it's some bureaucratic nonsense regarding sunlight hours or something equally unintelligent; maybe the tree cast that bit too much shade, and heaven forbid that we obstruct direct sunlight in the middle of summer.
Anyway, the last bastion of greenery is gone. (Not quite true, as there are gardens across the street.) Outside my window, the immediate vicinity has all the charm of a third world bomb zone.
I can't wait to see what will replace the tree. At this stage I have two guesses: either bare earth (with grey gravel and weeds) or some kind of concrete and steel structure that will be plonked in the most unharmonious fashion possible. I can hardly wait.
My message to the urban planners: get a fucking clue.
[Slumber]posted by peter at 09:29 .......I suppose it's normal to go through cycles of intense tiredness? Or does it indicate the initial stages of asbestosis?
I'm just feeling a bit dead.
Jess and Kylie get back from Kyoto tonight, and I can't wait. I have the next three days off work to blither about with them in Tokyo... the most difficult aspect is deciding which are the absolutely essential cafes and districts.
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[Books]posted by peter at 20:19 .......As if I needed any more cynicism in my life, I have just started reading Dogs and Demons by Alex Kerr. Basically, it is a hefty volume that demonstrates with convincing argument (and more than a little manipulative pathos) the extent of corruption and mismanagement in Japan.
Some of the most interesting points so far include the assertion that Japan still lies somewhere between pre- and post-industrial (lagging far behind the post-industrial nations in terms of the reunification of technology, cultural heritage and natural materials) and that sustainable development, ecology and somewhat serious things such as, oh, the monitoring of nuclear power stations are hampered by outdated (or nonexistent) technology and take a back seat to financial gain at the end of the day anyway.
Funny how a land that exists in a Western mindset as a superfuturistic quasi-utopia can be so demonstrably backward in such critial areas. The techno-oriental myth.
Don't get me started on bureaucratic corruption, nor the horrifying ambient levels of mortifyingly carcinogenic dioxins, let alone the absolute lack of control regarding emissions and waste disposal. What of the Kyoto protocol...?
Of course I shouldn't let one book inform my whole view of Japan, but it makes for interesting, if depressing, reading.
Jess and Kylie arrived last night. It took me 6 hours to get to the airport and back, which was vile, but it's so nice to have friends here.
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[The path]posted by peter at 15:27 .......Almost every day on the way to the station I pass the Japanese version of Ben Gazzara.
He walks a fluffy white Pomeranian.
The insect debris is subsiding now, and not a moment too soon. I still maintain that insects in Japan are relatively innocuous, apart from the vile cicadas which shriek at you from the treetops.
I have to trek out to Narita later to collect my wonderful friends. Normally I wouldn't do such a thing, but they are arriving too late for the direct bus and I cannot subject newcomers to the Tokyo metro without assistance.
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[A larger task]posted by peter at 19:50 .......And at this very moment (in Shibuya of all places!) I have at long last finished reading Anna Karenina. Never has a book taken me so long. I loved it, in a drawn out sort of way. I'll give it a few years before attempting War and Peace I think.
Also, picked up my guitar today.
[Onwards]posted by peter at 19:23 .......Better now. Won't go into it.
Plans are being formulated. I forgot about the existence of the Final Pay Check... that unspendable wad of cash that is deposited after one has already settled in one's new country.
So I'm thinking Europe. I will see out the winter in Tokyo and then head for the Continent. Or maybe the Isles. Somewhere.
I love having plans; without them I seem to suffocate.
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[-zero-]posted by peter at 23:55 .......I am in one really really really fucking bad mood.
Right fucking now.
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