In the Interim

Weird week. Started off well - managed to get three-year visa & took my passport down to Taito-Ku ward office in Ueno to apply for my alien-registration (Gaijin) card. Should get it back in two weeks or so, in just enough time to fly back to London. It's hot here - humid, cloudy, the air trapped between the land and the ocean, just sitting there, every time I move I sweat. I've been escaping to the cold bath, book in hand. I said "book"! So, Tuesday, shopping in Ozeki (a local supermarket), I encountered my first taste of overt racism (towards Westerners that is). You get the disguised racism - restaurants with no space but are half empty, or bars that are just closing even though it's 8pm; the stares, the looks of shock & surprise... Some of it isn't racist, some of it is because the staff can't be bothered to deal with foreigners, so a crossed finger or crossed arm sign indicating "NO!" is a gesture rather than an affront. Back to my story - I was in Ozeki buying dinner & beers. I go to the cooler to get my six-pack of Enjuku (the Japanese Stella Artois - but stronger) & there's a guy standing there holding a toddler. Now even though Japan has some amazing architecture - both ancient and postmodern - a lot of Japanese have a poor sense of spatial awareness: they don't like to touch but they have no idea that they may be standing on your foot or that it might be their turn to get out of the fucking way. So I'm trying to reach around this guy to get to my beers but he won't shift, so I go around the other side & he moves that way, so I move back & he moves back - not on purpose, just not aware. I make a lunge, grab the golden six-pack & turn. His girlfriend/wife appears clutching some tofu and shouts - I admit not in my direction but I am the only Westerner in the vicinity - something that translates as "Japan for the Japanese!" I look at them but they shoot off towards the daikon (giant radishes). This post is "in the interim" because I'm trying to put together June's book report but keep getting sidetracked & I'm tired so fancied blogging. Things worth checking out: Graham Rae's evisceral review of Green Days' 21st Century Breakdown in 3:AM; a teenage Japanese girl shaving a bear; & Sum by David Eagleman. Photo is of my manor - Asakusa - in 1910 (July to be precise). Cheers.