Today, September 21st, 2003, I understood the complaining of a four-year-old. Of course, I am guessing his age, but what he said is clear. "It's not that hot." I felt elated to have come so far. Woke up this morning with no clear plan. I spent too much money on an x-men dvd, so I was not inclined to travel, but a lingering depression was seeping in through the open window, or maybe it came from under the bed like most terrors. If I keep moving, it can't catch me, so i went to Himeji. Went to the JR station and got on the train.

A word about trains. I love trains. I would like to thank whoever invented them, and the Japanese government, who like so many other governments throughout the world, saw the wisdom of this invention and put trains everywhere. That we in the US do not have them now seems like a tortured madness. I don't really have to be going anywhere. I just like riding on them. And you can think about where you're going and where you've been. Listen to music, some trains even have TV... no drunk driving accidents, no traffic, parking... to go to Himeji, a good I don't know, 100km away all I had to do was buy a ticket, step onto the platform, and in 5 minutes a nice train pulled up and I was on my way. The tracks clacking by and the light comes in the window in the morning. Sip some coffee you bought at the station. The super-rapid makes maybe seven stops before Himeji, which is west of Kobe along the ocean. By the time "A+ Electric" is done I'm there and walking down the main street in Himeji, which leads to the castle. The White Egret. As soon as I see it the name makes sense. Whoever gave the csatle this name understood cubism, I think, and saw the many sides of the castle and its many tiers as a moment of serene beauty frozen and moved forward and frozen again. Like the cells of an animation overlapping, and a solid shape forms, magnificient, majestic, gracefull.

Well, look. I don't want to go on about the castle, because that would be boring. Look at the pictures. Oh. i want to mention one part though. This whole thing. look at the pictures, its huge. This castle is supported mostly on these two huge timbers, nearly as tall as the castle itself. One is cut square, the other round. In the late 50's they rebuilt the upper part of this castle. Which before I had this thing like, oh what, it's only been here since 1720? i wanted to see something OLD. You know, real. i guess because the culture here is so old. Old things like paintings have this magic aura, right? Authenticity. historicity. Document, etc. I mean how impressive would the Mona Lisa be if it were painted last year? But the photos of this reconstruction really filled me with awe. They replaced one of these huge timbers, cut it from a perfect tree and banded it with iron. I put my hand on it. Nothing ever felt so solid. Amazing. All this weight on this thing. It was so impossibly strong and solid. And to put my hand on it. Hit it. It's holding this whole thing up, this once-tree.