It is 6.30.08 and it is humid and hot.
The wee hours of this morning were spent on the Moonlight Express which is an express train that runs between the main cities on the Tokaido Line. This is a train that runs from Tokyo to Nagoya through the night and is full of even more sleepers than usual. One man was rather excited to see 4 foreigners sit down obviously intoxicated and decided to write us a letter explaining that his speaking ability was poor, but he could write very well. We are very nice English gentelmens. We are Japan friends and he is friends of Canada, USA and Australia. Continue reading ‘Moonlight Express’
It is Sunday 6.29.08 and it is hot and humid and pouring, absolutely pouring.
Today I woke up late and hung around the apartment. Made some eggs and watched some TV. At about 3pm I met Petar at Garuda (the greatest Indian Food I’ve ever had in Japan, owned by an Indonesian man and his wife is from the Himalayas). We went back to his place and played some Tekken 5 before going to the train station to head to Shizuoka. There is a big Sayonara get together for Darnell, Rudy and Julian. They will all be finished working in Shizuoka-ken in the next week and I’m sad to see them go. Continue reading ‘A Big Sayonara’
This is the ninth mp3 letter ‘written’ to my nana and RSS fed. I ride a bike to school and talk in stuttered phrases due to pedaling or distraction. There is some apologizing for this. After a quick stop at the Family Mart for some lunch we listen to ‘One Great City’ by The Weakerthans off their Reconstruction Site album [Golden Boy photo from Miss Vincci (cc) on Flickr]. The bike ride home is spent rambling.
Letters to Nana 9 [26:54m]:
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It is Phriday (Saturday) 6.28.08 and it is hot and humid and raining a bit.
Today I woke up late after playing Tekken for hours with Petar last night. My god I’m totally impressed with that game. Made some breakfast, scanned some prints, showered and got ready for work. On the way to school I recorded a Letter to Nana, and I think the first part went well. I stopped to get some lunch for later at the Family Mart, taught my classes and did my faxing for the day. However, on the way home I really ran out of steam in terms of material. I write every day, but for whatever reason I just found that I couldn’t concentrate. Hopefully editing can fix a bit of it, but outside of that it was mostly shit.
I’m having a snack before heading out this evening. Rhonda, Petar and I are going to the Indiana Jones movie and having dinner. Hopefully it will be good. I’m tired of writing/talking now and will probably have a few games of Chessmaster on the DS, or maybe I’ll read some of the gigantic ‘Shogun’ book I found in Petar’s mailroom (by James Clavell). I love giveaway books.
It is Friday, 6.27.08 and it is hot and humid.
Counting down is making me a bit crazy. Again, I’m confronted with it everyday with work, so it’s difficult to not think about it, but I really need to just relax and enjoy my last bit of time here.
This is really hard to articulate, but I’m really trying. I’ve been living here for 10 months not speaking the language and being noticed wherever I go and feeling awkward and careful about every social system that I’m in. This hasn’t been bad. I’ve done a lot of reading, a lot of travel, a lot of exploring and a lot of thinking. It’s mostly that I’m feeling guilty, and perhaps its my own fault that I’ve tried to be so holistic in my morality, but I want to be more of a part of where I’m from. Being in Japan, and the level of commitment people seem to have to one another in terms of keeping a certain peace and structure to the way they interact with one-another. I’m interested in this kind of social policy, and I want to feel like this at home, but I’m absolutely frightened by the prospect of going home to rude servers, violent crimes, and disenfranchised youth. I feel guilty because I should want to be contributing to making those things that are lacking in my own social system better. Continue reading ‘Must Stop Counting Down’
It is Thursday, 6.26.08 and it is humid and hot.
I’m definitely feeling how boring these have become, and how boring my life has become as a result of being busy and slightly social. I miss being a bit solitary and confined with my books and my paper and pen. I haven’t done that in a while and I’m feeling really… stupid? Boring? Off? The truth, I guess, is that it’s good to be out with people and conversing and talking. The bad news is that I do get slightly sick of having to be ‘on’.
This is going to be an interesting one… Continue reading ‘A Slightly Slippery Slope’
It is Wednesday 6.25.08 and it is hot and humid but it is also payday.
Today I woke up to Brian and we went to Royal Host at about 10am. It will be the last time I see him for probably a year at least. We’re both going to be busy (as we have been). We sat and talked for quite a while about things that relate and do not relate to Japan and marveled at the people that arrived in Nagoya that night almost one year ago. It was both enjoyable and awkward and interesting. The thing I miss most are people that know (or at least are interested in knowing and contributing to) what the fuck I talk about, and Brian on many occasions has proven to be one of them. We sat for almost 3 hours and it was really nice just to relax. Brian met his girlfriend Nue inside the gates and they were off to spend the last few days in Tokyo. Continue reading ‘Modern Classic’
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