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J O U R N A L
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Saturday, December 25
[Link]posted by peter at 20:22 .......In travel, of course... :)
(Merry Christmas!)
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[Quickly]posted by peter at 13:39 .......Stricken again with a weird Japanese cold strain; this one has gone straight to my chest, thankfully bypassing the sore throat phase.
Holidays are so close I can smell them, although I have issues with the word "smell". How easy it is to compile a list of banned words! In fact Brooke did just that and stuck it on the wall of the punk bar, titling it "words you should never ever say".
Of course all the Japanese people proceeded to say them. Brooke further confused things by gushing (another banned word) that "you must never EVER say these words, but you must always say NEVER EVER."
Interesting.
Yes, Jaye did crash at mine for two days after the whole "random salaryman hostess bar" thing, but I might add that she claimed only to be an English teacher! Incidentally, visitors are always welcome at my abode, anytime!
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[When friends come to town]posted by peter at 16:26 .......Hello new green vintage jumpers.
And the fold is happy to welcome a wonderful 3/4 length black jacket, made of some ethnic fabric and with deliberately frayed patches all around the hems, as if it were hastily woven and assembled in Mongolia this very morning.
Let's not forget a shout out to the very glam rock silver framed sunglasses too. Life is good but expensive, and Brooke gets essentially, oh, ALL the blame.
We went on that horrific rollercoaster today. Saturdays off are just so enjoyable, but I will always cherish my weekday weekends in Tokyo, because it is so much easier to get things done on Thursdays and Fridays when the queues are an eighth as long and all the hideous children are safely in school or English classes.
But on another track: I love rude attitude (said it once, will say it again), but when it comes from Australian gunnymolls it ain't no attractive thing at all. Go back to the hostess bar, please... which reminds me that last week we told a bunch of salarymen that we were from a hostess club and they believed us and one of them sidled up to me and asked where my "shop" was, believing me to be the owner, at which point any further conversation was terminated. I suppose if you tell lies you can only lie in the bed you make.
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[Onwards, friends]posted by peter at 18:56 .......Brooke's back in town and don't I know it, what with 6 hours of sleep in the last 59. This wakeful time has included work and a visit to Kamakura, where the wonderful Mai took us to a shojin ryori (high vegetarian cuisine) restaurant and then to the giant buddha. I bought an ethnic-looking wristband.
We have also been spending an inordinate amount of time in Shibuya, falling home around the 6am mark after karaoke with randoms and a whole bunch of people we do know. These days I'm really feeling like I've built a life here in Tokyo but I can't help but wonder whether the whole thing might not be a tad self destructive?
I've been drinking herbal tea (having just polished off a pot of verveine mint infusion here at People's Cafe) to counteract the effects of lemon sours and other poisonous concoctions that should never EVER be consumed.
Last night we demanded to be allocated Japanese names by the folk in the Frente! punk bar, since they all seem to have assumed English titles. And what do they come up with? Well, Brooke is now Kyoko, meaning child of the city. Sareh is Junko, meaning bright child. And I am Toru, with a long vowel sound on the 'o'. "Touru". It means path. Of course I got all paranoid and started envisaging such phrases as "the much trodden path". Everyone shrieked and told me my new name was perfect, but I don't understand it at all.
But still I feel blessed.
Tonight we are categorically not going out. I will sleep in readiness for the wonderfully green garment that I hear calling me from Harajuku... it knows me but has not revealed itself yet. I wonder what form it will take?
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[Eigo ga dekimasu ka]posted by peter at 18:51 .......Another confidence-busting Japanese language episode: I asked if the cafe had a toilet and the chick scuttled off and returned with a latte. Very communicative, no?
Now, previously I did neglect to mention how the alleyway outside our front door literally fills with rainwater, forming a veritable lake which must be traversed with whatever stepping stones come to hand, be they chairs, stones, old bicycles or kittens. I've always been one to encourage extraneous athleticism within daily life.
It is very cold today. After the misunderstanding I am on my 3rd coffee, umm, at what point does caffeine start breaking down one's DNA?
Very excited about Vietnam.
Must go, I've just ordered a salty dog and I have to make sure my heart is pure.
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[Tokyo calling]posted by peter at 14:08 .......How we la-di-daaad it up last night at the exhibition opening. I don't even like The Clash but we met the crazy organisers in our Frente! punk bar and scored invitations.
Having no actual purpose there made it that much easier to commandeer the food and drinks and flirt with everything that walked past.
I like launches. I'd so be a charity or arts patron if I could.
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[Ginza trawl]posted by peter at 16:27 .......A day of trawling, first through bookstores in Jimbocho (bought Breakfast at Tiffany's, Brave New World and For Whom the Bell Tolls; Fulvia and I stayed in one of the bookstores for at least an hour but I made all my snap purchases in 5 min at a different shop) and then through tiny gallery spaces in Ginza.
I'm all contemporary arted out, if that be possible. I think I'm going to some Joe Strummer exhibition opening tonight, if they let me in.
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[Woo-ooo-ooo-oh you'd better stop]posted by peter at 13:07 .......Our house lies at the end of a tiny alley and I love it because there's always something new and interesting to discover. The alley literally ends at our door, which every morning I fling open to a new curiosity, be it a white cat sleeping in an hitherto unseen cardboard box (by the way the kitten is long gone, we don't actually have a pet anymore, thank goodness), a jumble of bicycles (they seem to appear overnight, and vanish just as mysteriously), a soft toy laid out as if on some kind of funeral pyre (very unusual) or just a miscellaneous human talking to the white cat.
And university students everywhere I go. Beautiful, beautiful university students.
If you stand in our alley at night and look up, you can see a massive billboard perched on the top of the apartment block next door, glowing eerily against the filthy sky. It's very sci-fi.
The autumn colours are blowing away now, and the trees seem content to claw at the breeze. Some people take this as a depressing sign of a dark winter, but I see it as a chance to go all-out with the scarves and jackets, nobody can stop me now. I scored more freebies today, from my housemate in fact: New York designer jeans cum parachute track pants (hideous hideous but I think I can make them work) and a very burnt orange Gap jumper with a kind of snowflake pattern, again vile but oh so many possibilities.
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[Things we can do]posted by peter at 11:04 .......Do you get those wonderful hallucinations when you rub your eyes? Trippy geometric forms like a 1980s computer screen? Two days ago while taking respite during a kid's lesson I saw a grid superimposed with marigold flowers. Then I rubbed my eyes a bit more and everything changed to strawberries. Strawberries! Nothing on earth could have made me happier.
If I concentrate I can manipulate the images. Not exactly control, but maybe modify some parameters. The best thing is when creepy grey faces appear in my field of vision and then morph, one to another to another. Usually the forms are unfamiliar, like war ghosts or something. Maybe the dead have taken to visiting the spaces behind my eyelids. Better watch out or I might start speaking prophetic wisdom.
On a slightly different note, I'm worried that I'm turning into a nervous wreck, and I think the whole situation is partly genetic. Why should I be feeling stressed about my holiday to Vietnam? It's like, get on the plane, go. I think I exist in a generally highly-strung state, and worst of all I'm grinding my teeth at night again, resulting in a perennial ache on the left side of my jaw.
There is no reason to be stressed here. My job is not difficult. Missing the gym doesn't matter. I still have years to learn Japanese (although I'm getting more and more interested in Cantonese, Mandarin, German and Finnish).
None of it quite adds up, really.
Oh and tonight I'm playing the English Speaking Counsellor role (again) for a Japanese friend. Oh it's Pete, the listening ear, tell him, tell him!!! I must admit, I am a little curious though.
I swear I couldn't live more vicariously if I tried.
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[Kawagoe (written yesterday)]posted by peter at 10:06 .......The very beautiful Kawagoe was today's destination. Known in the tourist propaganda as "Little Edo", the town is unique for its retention of historic buildings, the likes of which would be deemed unnecessary and unsightly within the confines of your typical Japanese concrete blight on the landscape (or city).
Anyway, the feel of the town is just lovely. The buildings are unusual in that they were designed to be fireproof through a process of oxygen starvation.
However, a number of them burnt down. One of the original watchtowers remains intact though.
We also saw some of the most delightful temple compounds thus far encountered. And we saw squid being dried on a clothes hanger suspended from a bicycle basket. Vile.
Tonight I had dinner with Mai and bought very wonderful speckled vegan Asics Onitsuka shoes and will therefore subsist on lentils for the remainder of the month.
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[Layout]posted by peter at 11:12 .......Even though the French guy in our house is gross and lame, the critical mass is unbelievably cool and I am superhappy to be part of it.
Even if I do say so myself.
Climbing the infamous Mt Takao again today. Determined not to get lost this time. And I watched Hero last night... please do the same at your earliest convenience.
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