Scene one:

I love the rain. I mean sometimes its cold and it makes me want to stay indoors or it's inconvenient, but other times it gives things a sense of narrative and drama. A sense of time. I was just outside watching a spider spin a web and listening to the rain fall on the houses and on the street and into the gutters running with water. A sense of life, movement. People come out of the rain huddled together under umbrellas. The sound of the drops hitting the taught cloth. And then they disappear slowly. the rain continues on. Time passes.

Scene two:

Night. Exterior. Medium shot with the camera locked down. A city street with a low concrete wall lit by sodium neon lights from somewhere off camera right. Some seconds pass with the camera locked down and everything still. From camera left comes a kind of jingling noise. Slowly two people enter the frame. Youths. Holding hands. The guy is dragging a small wheeled totebag. The girl has a huge red elmo doll . Slowly they walk off camera right.

I see scenes all the time like I'm seeing them through a camera. Of course I just got finished watching the Royal Tenenbaums again, so. But secretly I've always wanted to make movies. I can never think of stories, though, just scenes.

Anyway, I want to jot down where I've been the last couple of days, just so I don't forget later, cause this site apart from being a platform for me to exhibit my ego is also for me to remember where I've been. Maybe help me figure out where I'm going.

America mura: You're in a maze of twisty passages all alike.
> n
America mura: You're in a maze of twisty passages all alike.
> e
America mura: You're in a maze of twisty passages all alike.

Really the same could be said for most of Osaka. The difference is that America mura has better shoes. Crazy good shoes. Sure Japan may have developed hydrogen fuel cell technology and made huge advances in robotics recently, but where this nation really shines is in the shoe department. Tweed gum sole Adidas with leather flair, plaid high top chuck T's...

All in this crazy maze of exaggerated post holocaust Americanism. Leering clowns salvaged from your worst Steven King sponsored nightmare preside over shops selling Fubu with some black guys being paid to stand out front so the place has street cred. A kind of unwitting surreal commentary unwinds as you pass through the various looking glass shops. Is this what America looks like from this far in space?

Friday: "I'd rather be in Tokyo. I'd rather listen to Thin Lizzy-oh. And watch the Sunday crowd in Harajuku, there's something wrong with me, I'm a cuckoo. "
Smoking section on the shinkansen. And two hours later in Tokyo. There's something weird and super cool about getting off work, going to the train station.. buying a ticket from a shop on the way... getting on a train and getting off in a whole different big city. The biggest. And then having nothing to do. So I caught another train to Omotoesando and got some coffee at a Starbucks. Which could be anywhere. Starbucks has created it's own dimension of null space. But his is old hat for post modern people, right? Malls. Starbucks. Space negation. But it really doesn't hit you until you're on the opposite side of the world and you go to a Starbucks. Even more than McD's, Starbucks is everywhere and nowhere.

Met Mayumi and Kohei and went to dinner. Those guys are so great. They rule my school. King them, they win. Stayed up rilly late and watched youth soccer championships. And here's something else super cool: hanging out with your friends at their place and then going to take a bath one at a time. And then you're still kinda hanging out and drinking or whatever, but you've all had baths so you're super relaxed and clean and you're in PJs. Great.

Saturday: Go to see Daibutsu in Kamakura and see Halo again. Good dog! Wander around. Go to amusement arcade and impress my friends with my sniping abilities on the Golgo 13 game. Yah, Golgo 13! It's an old manga/anime about a super assassin. Why do I like sniper games so much? Dunno... don't wanna know.

Fuji-san was so gorgeous. Clear skies forever and the mountain glowing and radiant.

Meet Kohei's parents for Sukiyaki. Eat the raw egg. And you know what? Yummy. I just had to stop thinking about the egg. Tried my damndest to speak Japanese all weekend, which fuckin wore the treads out on my brain. Plus, there's nothing like meeting some new people, and to impress them you say like "Me want egg good now! What you do? Kohei's teaching is better than the other's..." and so on. What's that saying? Like if you know you're a moron there's no reason to tell everyone... just to leave some room for doubt? Anyway. No shred of doubt could be left in their minds. But, being nice Japanese folks, they smiled and were nice anyways.

Sunday: Tokyo tour. Shita machi, Asakano, Shinjuku, Harajuku, uptown, down town. I always got my windows down. I'm the egg man. Taxi driver? I'm the egg man. Used clothing and crepes. Idol watchers and Argentinean soccer fans. High school kids with tons of cash. Homeless people sorting through trash. And gaijin galore! (I don't think I've seen so many milk bottles since I was back in the states. More about us another time) Neon red orange and ultra blue. Doraemon candy dust inhalers and ancient temples with lucky buddhas.

I'm worn out just listing the stuff, and that's just the meniscus. The real elixir I dare say I've yet to sample. But the same could be said for all of Japan really.

Anyways, thanks to Kohei and Mayumi for a great trip and esp. to Mayumi for putting me up. Oh, and a tip to travelers before I forget: you will not sleep much on the late night highway bus. It is a shake and bake oven one size too small.