Birthday

Well, it was my birthday this week, but seeing as it was a work day, Miyu and I just had a quiet dinner at home. She'd cooked this amazing Snapper fish in the over, stuffed with garlic, dill and rosemary. Divine, and all washed down with some vintage champagne.
So, I've clocked up another year (I'm not going to say how old I am. Let's just say it's somewhere between 36 and 38), and I suppose such an occasion leads one to reflect a tad on ones life.
I'm fairly satisfied with my lot, I suppose. I'm in a great relationship and live in a great house. Work wise it's not great - I feel I could be doing something more challenging with my mind, but at the same time it isn't unenjoyable. Money's tight, but that's to be expected after moving house, especially here in Tokyo.
Some of the things I'd really like to do in this coming year is to visit another country, have "proper christmas", learn more Japanese, do some Taiko drumming, do more writing and try to get fit (lapsed gym membership has meant little motivation to keep in shape). I also want to cook more. I cooked up a delicious (if I do say so myself) Thai curry last night, and really enjoyed the whole process of doing so. Arranging all the ingrediants into seperate dishes, lining up all the oils and spices and figuring out what to cook first and for how long, was very absorbing and satisfying. Because of our work schedules, Miyu's usually the one to make our dinner, so I'm going to do all the cooking from now on at the weekends and on holidays.

Twiddling me thunmbs

Oh dear. Just as I was getting ready to go to work this morning, I suddenly realised I didn't have my keys. I dashed about looking for them, but they're nowehre to be found. I gave Miyu a ring, but no answer, so she must be busy. Another frantic forage around the house comes to no avail. Call my client to cancel our session, and then send Miyu a text message asking her to call me ASAP. 2pm now, and still no response. I really have to go somewhere in a couple of hours time, which I can't miss. What a piddle I'm in. For the life of me I can't remember where I put the damn keys. I suspect they might be in her handbag, but until she phones me there's no way to know.
Aaargh! This is frustrating...

Look don't see

Maybe it's the fact that I'm in a big city, and that living in such close proximity to each other is not natural, so people behave in a way that stops them being overwhelmed. Some call it becoming desensitized. I remember hearing a story once when I was living in London. A friend of mine was waiting on a Underground platform for her train, when she heard a woman begin to scream. She looked around to see a big guy dragging a woman down the platform by her hair, as she kicked and screamed for him to stop. The platform was full of people, but nobody intervened. My friend couldn't believe it, so ran up the platform shouting for help, until some members of staff came running to find out what all the racket was about. The big scary man quickly let go of the woman and scarpered.
What would have happened if my friend hadn't done anything? Would the big scary man just taken the woman away somewhere and do awful things to her? Maybe, but luckily he didn't get the chance.
Anyway, that kind of lack of motivation to get involved in somebody's business is very much a norm here. People don't seem to react very much to anything, mainly because they are being constantly told what to do and not to do. There are countless announcements where ever you go, directing people to do things - on trains, buses, department stores, office building elevators. This has resulted in a city full of sheep, herded this way and that by what I like to call the "all seeing, never seen sheep dog". People don't have to focus very much on what they are doing, because they're told what to do, so they can zone out, go to sleep and read a manga or something. Doesn't it all sound a bit Orwellian? And when somebody steps out of line, it don't half cause a stir. You can almost hear a whisprering of disapproval wash over the whole city if somebody detonates an action that is not what is being told. Scary.
Anyway, you can blame Mr Jospeph Tame for this rant, which got me thinking after I read his jolly good blog LINK
Which reminds me too that Joseph is doing a regularish podcast, and I'm making occasional contributions - stories and interviews mainly - so have a listen if you can: LINK

Swirling clouds, magenta sky, pointy tower and a big mountain 

Sunset and Fuji san 

Tokyo graveyard 

Autumn lane 

Dirty laundry accepted 

Blue on blue 

Digging holes in the ground

I remember when I was 6 or 7 years old, living in the mountains of Yamanashi on a beatnik hippy commune with my parents, 3 brothers (there would be one more later, in England), and a constant flow of colourful visitors from all over the world. Rainbows formed overhead and friendly packs of dogs came a visiting in the summer.
During one bright autumn day, I decided to dig a hole. Not just any old hole, but a deep impact crater of a hole which would lead to a underworld hideaway, where I could hide and be safe; from what I didn't know. I dug all day until my hands burned and my thin arms shook like willow tree branches in a typhoon.
And yet, although it hurt like hell, I had my hole. It was deep enough for me to sit in and be completely out of view of anybody that cared to look. I went and found an old piece of wooden flooring and used it as a covering for the hole. It began to rain, so I opened the hatch and climbed into my safe-hole. As I sqautted down in the dark dirt, smelling musty rich, I pulled the hatch closed over my head.
It was so dark I could even see my hands in front of my face. It felt like I was floating in outer space, weightless and out of control. It felt good - I wasn't afraid.
I settled in and waited for the rain to abate, happy in my own deep space.

Boxer lamp 

On a tree lined avenue 

Grass design 

Nice lights 

Pecha Kucha 

Busy, busy, buzz, buzz

Phew, it seems like I can finally take a breather after a hectic few weeks.
Toshi and Hannah departed Japan lugging loads of new purchases back to London. It was really great having them stay with us. Funny how we could just carry on so easily, especially as we haven't seen each other for nearly two years. Such lovely people (although they seem to have got Miyu back on the smokes again!) Toshi fell in love with a t-shirt shop which is located just five minutes walk from our house, called DESIGN TSHIRTS STORE GRANIPH, which have some awesome designs on various types of Ts, and which are updated regularly. The price is right too, with one going for 2,100 Yen (15 GBP) and then getting progressively cheaper if you buy more than one. It's such a great idea - people send the company their designs and if they like it they produce and sell it, giving the designer dosh for their design. This means that with unquenchable thirst for new things, the shop fits in perfectly to meet this need. Plus the designs are very cool!
Talking of design, Tokyo Design Week has been taking part here. The place has been swarming with designers from all over the world, who have come to display their wares and to network like crazy. Miyu and I attended an interesting event last week, being run in as part of Design Week, called PECHA KUCHA (meaning chit chat in Japanese). Basically, it's a night of intense presentations, given by anybody that wants to share their latest ideas with a rapt audience. Most are about design, but occasionally you do get people talking about other topics (philosophy, history, ecology). The format is each presenter can show 20 slides, with each slide being showen for 20 seconds, whilst talking, so that the total presentation lasts only 6 minutes and 40 seconds. It can be hit and miss, but on the night we went most were hits. Started life in Tokyo, launched by a couple of architects (one British and one Italian), as a way for people to communicate in person to an audience. It's been so successful, that it's spreading accross the world and is well worth finding out if they have a PECHA KUCHA in your city.