High in the sky of mammon
I was up on the 48th floor of the Mori Building in Roppongi Hills today, to begin a new training course for one of our clients. Unable to book a room as the money makers had descended en mass to screech about making more money, we found a quiet corner next to floor to ceiling windows, offering a majestic night sky view of Tokyo. It was breathtaking. The client was a young currency dealer, who has aspirations to be a rock star and had just bought his parents a second hand BMW from a colleague.
Elsewhere that same day, but earlier, I passed a homeless man pushing a cart laden down with scavenged clothes. His face was almost black with the constant exposure to the strong winter sun. Salarymen passed him by in droves, ignoring him and making him nothing more than a fragment of some waking nightmare, quickly forgotten. I veered close to him, making sure he was, in fact, real and was almost floored by the stink that emanated from his dank body.
There's a lot of anguished writing at the moment, both here in Japan and abroad, regarding the ever widening poverty gap. The rich keep getting richer and the poor are disappearing down some bottomless hole where they can never escape. Towers of prosperity, propel the wealthy ever skywards and create cities within cities, where the key to entry is a fat wallet and the right connections. Mustn't be flash about it though, as this can lead to banishment, as has been amply demonstrated by the rapid rise and astonishing fall of internet tycoon, Takafumi Horie. He was in court about a week ago, crying big fat tears of bitterness at how unfair the authorities had been to him.
I reckon one of the reasons the higher powers came down on him like a tonne of bricks was because he just didn't give a ****. He didn't play by the rules and he waddled his fat arse in the faces of rich and poor alike, much like an old Harry Enfield creation, "Loads-a-money". Young people actually looked up to him, for being "more American" and independent, but he didn't give a **** - all he was interested in was waving his cash and shouting "okane ippai!"
Elsewhere that same day, but earlier, I passed a homeless man pushing a cart laden down with scavenged clothes. His face was almost black with the constant exposure to the strong winter sun. Salarymen passed him by in droves, ignoring him and making him nothing more than a fragment of some waking nightmare, quickly forgotten. I veered close to him, making sure he was, in fact, real and was almost floored by the stink that emanated from his dank body.
There's a lot of anguished writing at the moment, both here in Japan and abroad, regarding the ever widening poverty gap. The rich keep getting richer and the poor are disappearing down some bottomless hole where they can never escape. Towers of prosperity, propel the wealthy ever skywards and create cities within cities, where the key to entry is a fat wallet and the right connections. Mustn't be flash about it though, as this can lead to banishment, as has been amply demonstrated by the rapid rise and astonishing fall of internet tycoon, Takafumi Horie. He was in court about a week ago, crying big fat tears of bitterness at how unfair the authorities had been to him.
I reckon one of the reasons the higher powers came down on him like a tonne of bricks was because he just didn't give a ****. He didn't play by the rules and he waddled his fat arse in the faces of rich and poor alike, much like an old Harry Enfield creation, "Loads-a-money". Young people actually looked up to him, for being "more American" and independent, but he didn't give a **** - all he was interested in was waving his cash and shouting "okane ippai!"
posted by TOK at 11:00 pm
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