Döner Kebab

Today the guy who sells döner kebabs in front of Gap Shinjuku told me I’m beautiful. “Especially your eyes,” he said.

It’s the first time anyone tells me such a thing since I’ve been here in Japan. It’s no surprise that a foreigner said it.

Damocles Goes to School

La Candelaria, Bogotá, Colombia

After a couple of bearable flights, New Year at the Miami Airport, and 13 hours of naps and snacks somewhere on the stratosphere, I’m back in Tokyo. My room is a complete mess and homework’s not yet done, but I’m not planning to solve any of these two issues anytime soon.

So what are the results from this unexpected trip to my homeland?

  1. The 16MB SD card that came with my digital camera mysteriously disappeared. I’m glad it’s that one and not the 2GB one I bought recently. *Update: as I’m writing this, I stick my hand in a forgotten pocket of one of my multiple bags, and voilà!*
  2. I left my contact lens provisions for one year at home, which means I’ll have to buy lenses here. Fortunately, they’re not that expensive.
  3. I got a weird haircut. If you’re mean enough you can say I look like Edna Mode.
  4. I met a Canadian guy who lives in Yukon and does dogsledding. I loved the accent. Great company for a lonely New Year; you never know where you’ll meet interesting people.
  5. Love proved to have survived distance and time. This one is very important!
  6. I’ve fallen into this desperate need to write. Things in my mind must be sorted out one way or another, and believe me, there is so much stirring up in here right now.

Et cetera.

This morning I wanted to sing, but then I remembered I don’t have a guitar in Japan, so I promised myself I’d go to Ochanomizu as soon as I settle down at my new residence. That is if I don’t get sent home in April. Could anyone move this sword away from my poor little head? I’m tired of adding “… if I don’t get sent home in April” to each and every sentence I utter or write. One more thing calling for written relief.

Akihabara

Akihabara is the part I like the least from Tokyo. It’s too crowded, too noisy, and too full of colorful signs. Of course this description would suit most of the city, but to me, the land of Densha Otoko contains no beauty among this chaos. There are people to watch in Shibuya/Yoyogi/Harajuku, amazing buildings in Shinjuku, interesting shops (and gelato!) in Asakusa, but Akihabara… I always want to give it a second chance, but it’s like a screaming psychedelic whirlpool between Ueno and Ochanomizu.

Today I went shopping there. It wasn’t a proper shopping spree, but it was very special, considering that I gathered courage to go out in the freezing rain to get a cheap 2GB memory card for my camera at a place I like to compare to Bogota’s San Andresito at an exponentially larger scale.

Contrary to what would be expected from an inexperienced foreigner like me, I didn’t go to Yodobashi nor any of those huge duty-free shops on Chuo Dori (the main street). Instead, I took the time to search for some hidden basement on some hidden street (given previous Internet research). I didn’t even take a map with me, trusting my memory and the accuracy of the map on the website. I felt somewhat geeky, going out all by myself to this little hole reeking of videogame music and spare computer parts, but maybe the only geeky thing about this plan was the fact that I went there instead of buying online.

Now I feel that limiting one’s shopping and sightseeing to Shinjuku and Shibuya is a huge waste of time. I still don’t like Akihabara, but I’ve certainly taken a step towards grasping this infinite city before I get kicked out of it.

Piano Man

We saw Billy Joel in concert last night.

I had never seen such perfection, such beauty and energy in a performer. The voice hasn’t changed a bit! There wasn’t a single song I didn’t like, not a single mistake, not a sign of weariness. I almost cried when he sang ‘Honesty’… and it was only the third song!


After the concert we were left speechless, in a dream-like state. Had this been real? Aren’t we still occupying two seats in the Tokyo Dome, waiting for something to happen?

Or maybe we had actually been awake then, only to go back to a troublesome sleep full of strange nightmares. If so, how fortunate of us to have that voice lingering in our heads!