Notes From Me
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Thursday, January 20, 2005
The karaoke book of foreign songs has enough Radiohead, Coldplay, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Smiths, Hendrix, Chile Peppers, and of course Beatles. It doesn't have any Velvet Underground or Niko. And no Sonic Youth. There are obscurities that are popular here like Scatman John and unobscurities like Slipknot. I find myself singing things I never would have listened to, like Larger Than Life by the Backstreet Boys. One that they should have, but don't, and I want to sing is Lovechild. So, tomorrow we will have a party to celebrate the appearance of friends from the States and Japan. To appease Bucket Lady only because she has lived in the neighborhood far longer than we have and gets up pretty early, we'll move the whole thing around 10 o'clock to a bar and employ (but happily so) the now obligatory microphones and odd karaoke videos. Onsens: Last weekend's hot spring place that I went to was in the mountains. It had large outdoor pools, one of them kindly shallow enough to lay down in, with a long stone cylindrical neck rest. I've gotten very accustomed to being around girls and women of all ages who have no clothes on. Up to the very old, and I think the body is beautiful then too. In California there is a difference at the hot springs/hot tub places I have been to. Here in Japan, everyone, having grown up bathing publicly, is completely relaxed in the pools. In California, I've noticed upon approaching and getting into communal springs/tubs, a sense of, We Are Here and We Are Doing This Thing, and that tiny difference makes all the difference. No matter how relaxed I am in that setting, it's a degree less comfortable, even with the night sky above and the tea and the good conversation. One other good thing: hot spring places here cost about three to five dollars, no time limit. I don't want to sound like, Japan is great and California isn't. Definitely not so, but it's refreshing to see children and very old people together at the hot springs. |
The Journal
Define and Concur, wild like cloudlight The Writer
Wooden boats, musical instruments and fireworks are some of the best inventions. And cameras. I don't believe in following any one person or set of ideas. There are tiny satiations like orchids along the viny forest floor, blooming unseen, more gorgeous than some could keep from weeping over. Whenever I see the occasional sun rise the colors always surprise me like the flavor of tahini in Holland. Subway cars make great rhythm along the tracks, as does wind in treebranches, the sound pattern of running engines, and sometimes clothes in a dryer. I like Sumerian poetry. Archives
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