A stroll around the hood - Yamashina.

Since my company unexpectedly went bankrupt last week, I've had a few days to myself. I do go back to work tomorrow, but the details of which I'd rather not discuss, since they're a bit unclear to me at the moment. Now that I'm approaching the end of my short, surprise vacation, it occurs to me that I didn't do that much. My initial thought is of self-dissatisfaction at my apparent laziness, but hey – I've been sort of on the go now for six months; not doing much is probably what I needed. I don't know my neighborhood that well, at least not on one side of the main street that I walk nearly everyday to get to my station. Yamashina station is a connecting point for the JR line and the Karasuma subway line. At rush hour, it's still nothing in comparison to many of the stations in Tokyo at nearly anytime of day. Tokyo does remind me of New York in that regard, though quite different. The parallel is easy to draw for obvious reasons, but the energy is everywhere and it's fast and addictive. It makes me wonder about energy that we all have and oddly enough – yawning ... how that's contagious, maybe we just emit something that influences those around us, just by being. Anyhow, serious digression. Yamashina is nothing like Tokyo. Life is slower here. I am one stop away from Kyoto station on the JR line and within one or two stops in any direction on the subway line there are temples and shrines ... large temples and shrines. That aspect I will admit was one of the main reasons for this entire move and somehow, in that way, things have really fallen into place.

So, I decided to go out for a stroll about two hours ago and explore a bit on the way to dinner. It's more peaceful at night and I don't stand out so much, at least not from a distance. There is a big shopping center just about five minutes away on foot called Daimaru. It is located next to the train station as are many restaurants, a pachinko place (shop, crazy loud mess...whatever), a few karaoke bars and the other side as yet to be unexplored.

As I crossed the street, "Speak To Me/Breathe", the opening track to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon started to fade-in. It's always been a symbol of home when I listen to that album in full, wherever I've been. It turns out that there are many little bars on the other side of the Daimaru and another stream (all cement). As I walk it occurs to me that I'm actually living in the suburbs again. ha! So foreign that I didn't even understand the concept of where I was living. OTP y'all!! Way OTP. There is a discount sporting goods shop ... awesome, another cheap vending machine restaurant ... love it, and an arcade called Super Hero. Super Hero was crazy! One of the schools where I had been teaching was in an area between Kyoto and Osaka called Takatsuki and it had an arcade that was pretty insane, but this one had more video games, not just gambling video games! Speaking of Dark Side of the Moon, do you know the whole deal with synching it to The Wizard of Oz? That's crazy-old now, but well, I've done it before ... I'm sure that doesn't come as a surprise. Anyhow, if you synch it right (third lion roar), when Dorothy opens the door from her house and she's in Munchkin Land it turns from black and white to color ... just when "Money" starts and you hear the old cash register 'cha-ching'. Perfect. That's how I felt stepping into Super Hero. Earbuds came out for just a minute.

There was a kid playing something like "Super Mega Insane Drums ... 7". It was arranged with four pads and a kick, much like the drums for Rock Band, well, nearly exactly, except they were attached to the arcade game itself. I could barely see his hands moving, let alone the notes he was playing that were falling from the top of the screen, faster than gravity. Even more stunning - he was getting perfect scores. I stepped past to watch from behind another game, despite how obviously lame and stalkery it seems ... it was just too crazy. When he finished that song ... he was disappointed with himself. Any unrealistic dream of becoming a drummer that I had ... shot. Taking his lead, with my dismay I turned around to see another game, right beside me. Mind you, the computer was playing it but I still watched with both shock and quasi-appal. I'm not a gamer and I haven't really played video games much at all in years, but this fighting game took it to new levels. The creativity was staggering as was the kangaroo that was fighting either the devil or one of his close constituents. So this imp had bones sticking out of his elbows, horns and of course bat wings, but that was nothing compared to the fighting kangaroo. She had her little .. uh, Joey or whatever (baby) in her pouch. He was throwing sucker punches and wearing some really kick ass sunglasses. The mom was wearing a snorkel, mask and scuba oxygen tank!!! Enough? Oh no! As if the arsenal weren't already surprising enough, she had what initially appeared to be a red Afro shooting liquid, but it wasn't hair, it was a venomous red frog, latched onto the kangaroo's head, nestled between the ears! Damn! That's creativity! The devil finally won, despite his confusion with whom he was fighting ... it probably just pissed him off more.

So, I walked through the remaining rows of Super Hero and decided to leave and continue the stroll of random. I came across a restaurant that had English on the sign. It read "The Premium Yakiniku Dinnindg". I fn love Japan! Despite any difficulties or any previous negativity I may have had, I can be completely alone and there is always something that makes me smile. I decided not to go there because it was a bit too expensive. On I went and found a hon ya - bookstore. Every time I see a bookstore, I go in despite my knowledge of my lack thereof. I can't read anything ... I mean, ANYTHING. It's humbling to be so confused, so pathetically incapable, but it does provide an interesting glimpse into how someone who can't, might feel. To the upstairs I went for the comics, just to see what they had – all graphic novels. Some of them had unbelievable artwork. Wow, am I really an artist? This crap is amazing! Unlike the crazy, psycho drummer boy, seeing this inspires me to draw, to create something. By this time, I'm hungry, so it's time to move on.

Back to the vending machine diner before heading home. Itadakimasu!