jet-lagged

Hey there. I'm really jetlagged; it's not like I ordinarily get up at 5:30AM to start typing on my computer. Then again, there were those times in college, but I kind of wish I had those hours back now. Nothing like some sober reflection on one's own past. I mean, if we had no capacity for self-criticism, we would be no better than animals.

A few small comments on my last few days in Japan.
1. I witnessed a fight in Shinjuku's "notorious" kabuki-cho. The district really isn't that dangerous to me, and I've been there several times. Sitting down on a metal fence (ha, sitting on a fence is a good metaphor for that night), I spent about 20 minutes or so with Fisch watching the people stroll by. Lots of young couples. Giggling college girls. Young guys on dates. Then a tangled snarl of fighting Japanese from my left. About 15 feet away, two large guys were face to face muttering, mumbling. There was some punching. There was some out and out bullying as the guy in blue tried to back down. It was brutal, and so stupid I felt angry about it. After the guy in blue went down, the other chunky guy in black, joined by a shorter fellow in the exact same outfit, strolled down the street. He played possum, and his wife was screaming into her cellphone for an ambulance. What followed was a melodramatic farce as police started asking questions, and the guy kept playing hurt, groaning and holding his left side. He was evenntually helped onto a stretcher and taken off by paramedics. I don't think he was hurt. He just needed to appear hurt to protect his pride. Who would want everyone to know they took a fall on purpose? Like I said, I was angry at the stupidness and viciousness of the world, but who knows what really happened? I'm glad Fisch was there in fact, because that immediately set me apart as a foreigner (or at least, in the company of a foreigner). Better that then being drawn into the situation, or being asked questions by the police.
2. Dubliner's Pub in Shinjuku is the worst irish pub in the world. Too crowded (amazingly), and they water down their drinks. I spent about an hour at an FOJ and NBK mixer there, and met some nice, earnest people about to begin their studies at Columbia. Some, that is. Others were kind of obnoxious in that know-it-all sort of way. Petpeeve: people who live 1-3 years overseas, know something of the language (and get praised on it all the time), and therefore think it's their duty to teach you about the place (foreigners in Japan and China are especially like this). Yuck. Anyway, it makes you think how naive they are, but then again the world doesn't necessarily reward those who are right; being wrong but persuasive seems to be a formula for success for a lot of people . . .
3. Saw the Roppongi Hills mega-complex. Disorientingly constructed, but magnificent at night when it's all lit up. It features a 24-hour movie theater for the Roppongi crowds who miss the last train, and it's buoyed up flagging land prices in the area (damaged of course by gaijin of ill-repute around the bars in the district).
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I'm tired, but not tired enough to whine at www.tired.com.