The Unbearable Loneliness of Post-Modern Japan
Japan has fallen into loneliness. This is not my opinion, but that of Ryu Murakami. He wrote that modernization has changed Japan's national sentiment from sorrow to loneliness. Such is progress. He points to the Kobe murders committed by a 14-year-old boy about ten years back. He points to the increasing trend of "compensation dating" - high school girls that prostitute themselves to middle-aged men so that they may buy high priced designer goods. He says that these phenomena’s result from the quiet loneliness and lack of national goals that grip Japan.
I know the loneliness of Japan, but I attribute it to the division of soul. How can one be expected to have values and morals when also expected to split herself in two? To which self do you pledge loyalty? Those that have lived here any amount of time have heard of tatemae and honne, the separation of public and private selves. It is exhausting to maintain two lives. After some time, both lose validity, become blurred and forgotten. Instead of having two rich worlds, we are left with faded impressions of life. Motions. Habits. Secrets we keep but cannot remember exactly why anymore.
Lovely images of cityscapes and women filled the facing pages of the book of Ryu Murakami's essay on this topic, "Murder in the lonely country." I ripped his concept idea for the above image. My own tatemae and honne - barely noticed above the glitz of my surroundings.
Here are two Ryu Murakami books I've swallowed in the last week. (Not to be confused with my beloved HARUKI Murakami. These books are intense. Great, shocking, intelligent reads.
photobooth fun
Kiomye and I rode the trains back and forth around Nishinomiya today. We hit the UFO catchers at Koshien. (Kiomye won a kittychan purse.) Kio danced around in the windy balloon room at Daia. We had crepes smoothered in chocolate at Hanshin Nishinomiya and made friends with a little girl Kio's age that rejoiced in shouting "My name is Ayumi. A-B-D-C!" over and over again.
We're not English snobs. We'll take what we can get.
We thought Ayumi was brilliant.
On a side note: A while back, I bought some fabulous sexy boots with tall skinny heels at a recycle shop. Major find. Although, as it turns out, I am not a girl that does well with tall delicate heels. I mashed those suckers to pieces. I smacked them into curbs, ground them against escalator grating, scuffed them on conrete and pounded them into stone steps. Today, we stopped by a shoe repair place and I handed them over, rather embarassed at their condition and asked with a skepitcal, apologetic look, "Dekimaska?" Can you do it? The man just grunted and swept them up in his arms. Kiomye and I watched as he ripped the heels apart, pounded nails in, bolted down new rubber post tips, glued edges, smoothed, blacked and polished the leather. Then he handed them back to me with another grunt. They were prettier and now even sturdier than when I bought them. It took him about four minutes. It cost me 800 yen (less than 8 bucks). I was so amazed. I'm never buying new shoes again. Cobblers Are geniuses!
Girl and Boys
Here are two recent Japan pictures. There's the rockstar herself, rockin' the Valentine's Day party at her school. I love the bemused looks of her teachers behind her. Yesterday, I was walking her home from school and she was asking me if we could stop at the store to get a "treat". I was TRYING to explain how not EVERYDAY is a treat day when the woman that runs the boutique-for-upscale-stuffy-women-with-bad-taste-and-an-affinity- for-beige (not its offical name) frantically waved us in. Some big childrens' holiday is coming in a couple of weeks. In honor of it, she gave Kiomye two presents. I've been in her store twice. I don't have an affinity for beige. I've never bought anything. But, the presents she gave Kiomye (an emperer and empress doll set, jewelry box and cherry blossom candies) were from a very nice department store in the heart of Osaka. Kiomye is getting very good at her "arigato"s and her little bows. She had a blissed out look on her face when we left, clutching her "treats" tight.
It must be rough being a rockstar.
This picture is of my students. We do a yearly long distance run along the Muku River. The kids do syncronized stretching at the start. I could only get a few in the frame, so some of the effect is lost, but watching 540 pre-teen boys do pelvic thrusts is a strenuous exersize in laughter-control. So absurd. (click to enlarge)
Birthday gifts
The coolest resaurant EVER!
This is from almost a month ago, but since it’s been so long since I’ve posted, it doesn’t matter much.
One of my best friends in Japan took me to the possibly the coolest restaurant I have ever been to. It was located deep in Umeda’s entertainment district. I would have clicked right past it, if he hadn’t stopped me and gestured towards a low opening around the alley side of a tall building. I had to bend to enter and found myself in a narrow hall that ended in a door I could not open.
“Wait,” he said, and then pushed aside a panel of wood to reveal a number pad. He typed in a code and the door slid open to reveal a downward spiraling stone staircase lit with warm light.
My eyes circled round as the moon. I stepped aside and let him lead. We descended down down down to a tiny room occupied by a podium and a man with a pen. He exchanged greetings with my friend and bowed low to me. Then left wall slid open without warning and a beautiful girl in a traditional kimono motioned for us to follow her into a maze of narrow hallways.
We were shown to a small private room. We slipped of shoes and sat at the recessed table. Our table was pressed up against a glass window on the other side of which a landscaped, forest style waterfall drip dripped, splattering occasional drops on the pane. There is only one thing on the menu, a set of amazing courses. I would hear a knock and a low “Sumimasen”, the door would slide open and either a kimono clad maiden or an ancient chief would come into our room on knees and place a dish before each of us. There was a small grill set into our table over which we would grill the meats and vegetables. We had filets arranged on evergreen sprigs, stewed vegetables we roasted wrapped in broad leaves. Dainty salads and soups in cups with tiny ceramic lids. Cold noodles with a set of spices to choose from. Mochi ice cream decorated in gold leaf and mint clips. So delicious.
When we finished eating, all of the kitchen staff and waitresses lined up in the hall and bowed to us. A woman led us up a different staircase and to a wooden door half the size of the first that we both had to bend completely in half to exit. When we stepped outside into the busy alley, the door closed behind us, invisible in graffiti and paper flyers.
It was an incredible experience. I want to go again, but I don’t know the code. I will have to wait for my friend to escort me.
Japan has fallen into loneliness. This is not my opinion, but that of Ryu Murakami. He wrote that modernization has changed Japan's national sentiment from sorrow to loneliness. Such is progress. He points to the Kobe murders committed by a 14-year-old boy about ten years back. He points to the increasing trend of "compensation dating" - high school girls that prostitute themselves to middle-aged men so that they may buy high priced designer goods. He says that these phenomena’s result from the quiet loneliness and lack of national goals that grip Japan. 
Here are two Ryu Murakami books I've swallowed in the last week. (Not to be confused with my beloved HARUKI Murakami. These books are intense. Great, shocking, intelligent reads.
