danieru in tokyo: Caveman

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Caveman

A Friday night of beer with work peoples, get home in time to sleep, wake up the next day at 6am, bolt down to Akasaka, rent a car, disappointed by automatic, impressed by the built in amp and GPS. Spend 30minutes trying to program the GPS system, give up, pull into a garage and beg apologetically at a man: 'Suimasen, Navi kudasai - Okutama?' All understood, and he programmed the GPS, and we're back on the road. Turns out that you can't program it whilst the car is moving.

2 hours later, plenty of tolls paid, I had finished pelting the life out of a supermini Mazda somewhere near Yokohama to the tune of Belle and Sebastian, and we pulled into a campsite by a river and setup shop. Saw a great sight along the way: A team of builders preparing for work in the morning, following the instructions of the foreman, perform excercises outdoors. I'm told that it's normal, and many offices will have the same practice. Car dealerships are of particular amusement, because the group excercises are outdoors, and they all wear suits. From my perspective, humiliating, but on the larger scale, i'm starting to realise why being fat gets you stared at in Japan.

Hike up a big hill, which managed to get fogged over as we got higher, to thwart any satisfaction that could have been gained from getting tired and sweaty. And so zero hilltop photographs. I did manage to get a photo of a spider. The Japanese countryside is a marvel for someone born in London. Hills packed with trees cover the landscape for miles, without any stray plastic carrier bags, rusting disused washing machines, burnt out Vauxhall Corsas in sight.

After an unerving walk down from the hill in pitch darkness, I discovered something that I filled me with the Joy of Alcohol. A 1 litre can of Asahi. More than just your average beer, this monster can was being sold in a Seven Eleven near me. So i bought, and consumed. Multiple.

Okutama has caves, which have concrete paths inside, making it a rather busy tourist attraction. Now is my time to tell all potholing fantatics to go and die peacefully in some other place, because I am a big fan of increasing accessibility. For example, how else would a man in a tweed jacket, and his Kimono wearning wife be able to get outdoors to see the caves on a Sunday? I have no idea what value these caves held historically, and so I am going to document my conjectures instead. Lots of spiritual stuff, a with shrines to pray, and and places to stick 1 Yen coins in the dirt for good luck. I guess people came here for more than just shelter from the weather. I'm yet to read up on the details for this, so information is sketchy at the moment. Japanese mythology and Greek mythology share the notion of an underworld bounded by water. Thus it was traditional to bury coins with your dead in Japan too, in order to pay the man to take you across the river.

The drive back from the caves to the sleepy town to get ramen for lunch was one of the best I have ever had - so good, that it left me wondering if I should really go to Zurich next, or just stay here. Japan has the mountains, the climate, the cleanliness, the organisation. I like mountains, but I also like old town squares. So I guess Zurich still has some appeal. Gotta learn German - which will be a damn sight easier than Japanese.

Driving back to Tokyo, was, of course, hideous. The GPS system is not to be trusted. The highlight of the journey was seeing an unidentified race car, complete with advertising stickers, rollcage, exhaust pipe tune... I started drooling, staring, and edging forward in the traffic to try and get a closer look at the car, and maybe the driver. Long hair? Wow - it was a girl, a young Japanese girl! Driving this racecar! The predator/prey instinct in her kicked in, and she clocked us staring. So I waved. And smiled. Then Ricky gave her a thumbs up, and a smile. Success! Despite the fact that we were driving a weedy microcar, she smiled and waved back. And then castigation from our passengers for behaving like schoolboys. I wish I had a photo.

Shock yesterday, when our flat got fined because we weren't separating our rubbish correctly. So the building superintendent went through our rubbish, and came to the conclusion that there was some stuff in the burnable that couldn't be burnt, and some stuff in the unburnable that could have been burnt, and perhaps he should sent some instructions on what is and what isn't through our letterbox, together with a polite penalty. HOW THE HELL DID HE KNOW IT WAS US?

Strange: I feel rather passionless of late. Nanako claims that this is a result of age.
Change: I am not particularly jealous of anyone elses' life. I am having a good time here in Nippon.
Guilt: I felt enormous sense of guilt when someone laughed about their previous inability to concentrate on a single problem for more than a few seconds. How can I laugh, when I am still struck by this disease?
Self Conscious: I'm thinking about going to Okinawa for the weekend to dive, and i've realised that i've got to lose weight....

- posted by Daniel @ Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Comments:

I have noticed that you are starting to follow a pattern. You start of with a text only post and then, some time later, you add some phtos.
You have to get up early to start following a pattern without me noticing, and pointing the fact out.

# posted by

Dominic : 7:53 AM

Indeed, and indeed I do get up early. For it is 2.34am in Harrogate right now, and I am about to head down to Akihabara.

# posted by

Daniel : 10:35 AM

I don't get up early, nor notice any patterns.
I also don't know any more that half a dozen colours, because that makes you gay.

# posted by

Al : 12:59 AM

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