Category: Uncategorized

Aka suicide.
Aka the only thing that delays the trains in Tokyo.

Like the one I find myself waiting for now. Kinda paradoxical that those with the most meaningless existences end them in a way that impacts so many.

Pretty sad way to go.

I imagine most of you might not particularly care, but as of  a month ago, my address is a Daikanyama one, instead of Ebisu.

Why move for what amounts to five months time?
1. Boredom
2. Cheapness
3. Annoyance with less than intelligent customer service

Which is to say, my previous apt, in addition to exorbitant rent (being cleaned once a week and coming furnished) mysteriously stopped taking credit card payments. Emails with my designated rep would have an average five day turnaround. Very polite, thoughtful, but largely useless emails. It would seem that my previous realtor, “future life entry group” had succumbed to the ill economic times, to be supplanted by the equally impressively named “future revolution, inc.”

Right.

Despite their forward looking name, Future Revolution had not yet realized credit card technology and had either extremely slow email servers or unresponsive staff.   After being told (ever so politely) that only Japanese speakers could rent the apartments under the (cheaper) conditions I found in their online postings, I started looking to move.

Now I have a bigger place, better view, an excuse to buy stuff, and a new neighborhood to explore. For 1k less per month than before.

I´ll miss the freshly laundered towels, but I think I´ll manage somehow.

April was BUSY.  Busy because lots of people came to visit, and the weather got a littttle bit warmer so people here started coming out of their holes.  People and flowers.   It was like (mentally) getting dropped into a world of white-pink clouds.  If you ever have the chance to visit Japan in cherry blossom season, it’s not over-hyped.  And like sunsets, the pictures never quite do it justice – the fun and wonder really comes from just being there, surrounded by these things immediately and peripherally.  (And a good part of it comes from everyone else keeping them in the backs of their minds too).

It was great taking a little walk at lunch, and seeing a middle aged suit taking pictures with his phone.  Next to the punk stripey-socked girl also taking pictures with her phone.  Both of them looking at the screen, slightly shaking their heads, and looking back up with a little smile.

Some other highlights of the month include:

• getting a ride through Tsukiji on a fish cart! With fish! (So cool I forgive people for making me get up to go w/ them)
• hanami at yoyogi with assorted friends and friends-of
• making pizza, yum.
• having a trip to china cancelled

lowlights

• discovering that friday-saturday-sunday counts as one 24 hour period in terms of atm cash withdrawal limits
• being stuck at work ’til 11pm
• being stuck at work ’til 1030pm
• being stuck at work…