I want my stone back.

I just registered my first shareware since 1997. Seriously, I just paid for some software that nobody would think of paying for. That's the thing with shareware; nobody seems to pay for it. If you just distribute your software, no matter how much you limit it's functionality, people rarely bother to pay you for it. This time, I just had to do it. I registered an Apple II emulator called 'Virtual ]['. It cost me $19, but the feature that pushed me over the top (into becoming a paying customer) was the emulated disk drive noises he put into it. It just didn't feel like a real Apple ][ until then. Now, I can play Infocom's Wishbringer again, and relive those magical moments I spent with that game in the chilly basement of my home (before my parents moved. now there's no basement). But the best part of that game was the packaging; it came with a white glow-in-the-dark molded plastic trinket, the 'Wishbringer' stone from the game itself. Now, that was classy.

A long time ago, I think it was 1989, I gave that glow-in-the-dark stone, plus my signature, to a friend named Sue. I'm not in touch with her, but I hear she's a successful lawyer now. I guess the stone paid off, but hell, that also means she doesn't really need it anymore. So, Sue, if you're listening, I want my stone back.

Japan as a metaphor

I'm starting to grapple with my own (previous) fixation with Japan, and as I look out the window of the Tokyu express train to Shibuya, considering the grey sky and tightly packed buildings, I realize that I have always looked at Japan as a particularly vivid expression of human dignity/desperation. These moments come to me especially when I've got my music with me, when the shifting cityscape in front of me serendipitously harmonizes with the beat. Those are special moments to me . . . :P

At a risk of sounding obscure, I worry if I am somehow decorporealizing my Japan to a set of hazy metaphors. But at the same time, I also realize that Japan can not possibly be 'meaningful' without some romantic notions on my part. Japan used to be a fantasy-land for me, but now less and less so. And in the process, the metaphor loses meaning as well.

Vehicular Destruction/Vehicular Construction

Vehicles; they transport us, they kill us.

Last week, I noticed that my train was late twice. When that happens, and normally it isn't a common occurrence at all, the conductor announces his apologies and gives some official excuse. Both times last week (two different lines), the cause was a 'jinshin jiko'. Translated literally, the term denotes an 'accident involving a human body'. What it suggests is suicide. When people here think of trains and suicides, they immediately think of the Chuo-line, the 'suicide train', apparently because its express trains rush right up against the platform at a sufficient speed to make things quick.

But vehicles here are also a source of fanciful expression. The 'new' way to get to Odaiba is aboard the 'suijo basu' (water bus) Himiko. I took two photos of it: one two. Himiko (named after the mythical female ruler of the ancient 'Wa' kingdom, apparently one of the early civilizations in the Japanese archipelago) was designed by none other than Matsumoto Reiji, famed animator of Galaxy Express 999, and more recently, Interstella5555. By the way, you can buy figurines of the Interstella crew for a mere 55.55 euros. Anyway, suijo basu Himiko runs from Asakusa to Odaiba for double the normal price of a ferry, around 1,700 yen.

In other news, I went all the way to the top of Mori Tower, in Roppongi Hills. That thing casts a loooong shadow.

Someone asked me to post some pictures of fruit, and well, I don't have much, but this should show you what an Okayama pear is like. The large wrapped thing on the right is the pear, while on the left is a largish Okayama apple.

The saddest little song in the world

Done dropping LL off at Narita Airport, I am a loss for what to do next. I choose the Keisei line to go home, which is the absolute cheapest option (@ 1,300 yen compared to 3,000 yen for the Narita Express), and because I am in absolutely no hurry. In any case, I have Michael Chabon's 636 page The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay with me.
At the bottom of the escalator, sliding into the subterranean cavern that is the train platform, dimly lit and all dingy tiles and chrome, I find, improbably and inexplicably, synthesized bird songs chirping from a miniature speaker mounted on the wall.
I wonder how it's supposed to make travelers feel. Is it intended to remind people of how far removed they are from nature? From their childhood? From sunlight? The Keisei limited express pulls in, all sweaty with its windows steamed over, and I can't help feeling its sadness.

Great Big Fruit of Okayama - redux

We finally ate the last of the Okayama fruit, and it was delicious. Last to go was a giant shiny red apple that somehow lingered on for weeks and weeks after we had devoured all the mandarin oranges, pears, and persimmons.
For some reason, I hesitated to touch that last apple, sitting so sweetly in it's Okayama-labeled carton, as if eating it (without my roommate's permission) might somehow lead to my being cast out of this luxurious apartment. But I gave into temptation.

'69'

'69' Anybody else seen the film adaptation of Murakami Ryu's novel '69'? I had no idea that the Kyushu dialect played such a large part in both the atmosphere and plot of the work, since I read it translation. In the movie, the protagonist's friends constantly comment on how he reverts to 'textbook Japanese' whenever he starts getting serious about some topic. I also seem to have forgotten how much humor there was in it. Then again, the fact that Murakami Haruki (no relation) seems to have a fairly low opinion of such levity in the student movement has left a much deeper impression on me. In short, I understood about 45.7% of the movie because of the dialect, but I was (ambivalently to be sure) swept up in the exuberance of (Japan's) 1960's nostalgia.

Ame Agaru This was another film I saw recently, and despite the fact that it was full of Edo period dialogue, I still managed to catch more of it than that pesky Kyushu dialect. As a 'humanist' period piece, its lineage as an unfinished Kurosawa Akira project is fairly obvious. It does seem to be from a different era. Compared to the irony and (strangely defensive) emphasis on heroism in recent period works, this one focuses on the nobility of the common people and the moral bankruptcy of the elites. Very post-war. Quite heart-warming.

Ghost Squad Um. This one isn't a movie, but a video game. LL and I spent some time and money on this one today in Shibuya, and our wrists are still quivering from the experience. It features two full-size sub-machines with which to smack-down the baddies. We were terrible at rescuing hostages. Much more effective in shredding up the scenery. I might have to go back and play some more soon.
On a side-note: we spent more money on that game than one and a half hours (plus two drinks) at Karaoke.
Oh, and in case you're wondering, Karaoke is cheap during the day. The above cost only 800 yen for both of us.

Hatsuyuki, Hatsumode

It's 2005 in Japan.
Otaku: I've been called an Akiba-kei [Akihabara-type] otaku before , but I was still stunned into silence at the Christmas Eve Maywa Denki show [buy their stuff here!]. A quorum of Tokyo otaku (mostly female even!) were there, and they made me feel decidedly 'normal'. Who are Maywa Denki? Well, their X'mas eve performance theme was 'folk', and they had their robotic musicians behind them strumming acoustic guitars. But this was Maywa Denki, akiba-kei folk, with songs about Tsukuba engineers, remote controls, and Rubik's cubes . . . (refrain: shikakuii~~, shikakuii~~ = 'it's square, square, with an audience member standing in front, doing the 'air rubik's cube' )
wow. out-otaku'ed.
(n.b. the usage of the Japanese term 'otaku' is not the same as stateside, where it 'simply' denotes an anime fan/freak. In Japan, otaku refers to anyone who obsesses over something, cars, computers, even anime, to an anti-social level.)

Benkei in the House: The new NHK 'Taiga' drama series for 2005 is going to based on Yoshitsune. Yes, the same Yoshitsune from Heike Monogatari. And that of course means that his trusty sidekick Benkei [acted by Matsudaira Ken] will be on TV's all over Japan in the coming months. I full expect to see hundreds of Benkei imposters online when the Benkei-boom sweeps Japan.

Also, I can link to pictures now that I have massive storage on YahooBB.

First snow in Jiyugaoka. Someone forgot to take in their laundry.

Hatsumode at a nearby shrine. The buddhist temple next door.