Ku i Su To Pi Ta

allo. i am een my rooms an i am talking to sharles, my roommate from kebek. here's my first day's journal from japan...

from sat. 8-25-07...

i'm in my hotel in tokyo, watching a television show hosted by a podiatrist. everyone is barefoot and dancing. some of the people in the audience had some sort of toe race. whoever could move the fastest using only thier toes was the winner. the commercials advertise horse saddle excercise machines and reminders to help your elders. the plane ride and train into tokyo weren't so bad, it was hauling the three pieces of luggage around tokyo station and down the street to the hotel that did me in. i dripped sweat all over the check in counter and all the forms i had to fill out. i dropped my luggage in the lobby and the bellboys had to run to pick it up, and then they couldn't fit it all in the elevator. finally got to rinse off and change, and i don't have to pick up the damn luggage till tomorrow. i wont get to see too much of tokyo, so i want to wander around a few blocks before it gets too late. there's a framed painting in my room that says:

a dictionary

I

waight the world

in my hand

.....

the

whole

stupid human

race

compacted

......

i don't think there's any way for me to be inconspicuous here - i'll be stared at everywhere i go - but sweating on everyone and dropping my luggage and mumbling half assed japanese is not the vision i had for my first night in japan. if i can't be inconspicuous, i at least want to manage not to be grotesque. i wish the surface differences weren't so glaring and unchangeable. i want everyone i see to know why i'm here, and what i love so much about this place that made me work to get here.

............

bought some onigiri type stuff at the 7-11 attached to the hotel and wandered down the street. got completely lost in ginza for a while and eventually found my way back to buy beer and tea. i can't seem to convince myself that i'm really in japan. a lot of things are turning out less than stellar so far, but i know that i'm extremely tired and nervous and disoriented right now. i think when i finally settle in up in akita, i can start to relax and soak things up better.

.....

so, that was my first night in tokyo. as of the second half of today, things are getting better. i'm talking to more people and feeling more comfortable. tomorrow we get to shuttle into town and dally. i'll put it into the journal, and eventually the blog will catch up. time to go sweepy byes. matane.