I visited Japan in 1996.
I experienced a country of delicacy and madness, an intersection of ‘old’ and ‘new’ time, Crowds swarmed through crowded train stations; suited commuters seemed shamed by the ‘floating world’ of tramps and kicked them as they passed. Chain-smoking was popular but so too were small packages of pickles bought from vast displays in huge department stores. Amongst the neon, the overcrowding, the densities of Tokyo, regional delicacies reminded people of their simpler, ancestral ‘homes’. Tokyo McDonalds’ charged 20c a burger, whilst a simple nori roll cost $3: the young IT geek helping me on the internet suddenly asked me which should be his lunch.
Minor earthquakes lifted and shook buildings overnight, most nights. I was being ‘vibrated alive.’ In amongst all this intense-city, the subject of my rumination unfolds….
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