On two weeks of radio silence, part one

So this thing about writing on a regular basis doesn't seem to be working out all too great for me. September turned out to be a pretty crazy month of bad sleeping, skin breakouts and major fights with the Philosopher. It was a bad time. It's still not great, and there are still a whole bunch of things I'm considering, but at least work seems to be in a better place. I seem to have gotten some of the mojo back that I lost while in the middle of a shit storm. In a way, it feels kinda good to just throw yourself into trying to do a good job at work. The past two weeks, it's like I've actually given a crap about the people I teach. It's a welcome change, I guess.

So what have I been up to these past few weeks of radio silence? Well, I've taken the road down Memory Lane, into Thinking Territory. The inside of my head is a pretty interesting place, this time of year. Don't worry, I've been to actual places too, but they're kinda related.
Before the summer officially ended, on a nice warm and sunny day, I headed out to Enoshima with Peewee to check out some caves and shrines. Everything here involves looking at shrines or temples in some respect. I quite like it, but it does make any photos from excursions kinda look the same. I swear I'm going to different places, silent readers. I'm not just continuously taking pictures from different angles.

Enoshima has this legend about a dragon pestering them, and falling in love with some goddess or other, creating the island. Thus, there is dragon-related stuff everywhere. That in and of itself is kinda cool, but it makes the place feel a bit like a cliche of everything Asian you could ever imagine. Then agian, they do have some Chinese stuff if you know where to look, so I blame them. Chinese people are always sticking dragons in all their art.

This is one of those things I really like about living in Tokyo - there's a plethora of things to do at the tip of your fingers. In less than an hour, you can go to the beach, to the mountains, to awesome urban landscapes... there's everything, and it's all within the reach of your every silly whim.

I've never really been that big of a fan of the sea, but for some reason I really enjoyed Enoshima. Maybe it was the general lack of nature that's been going on for quite some time now, but wandering around among trees, flying hawks and the smell of sea, it really was a nice change.

Local beer that tastes like saffron bread isn't terrible either.

We checked out the cave of the legendary dragon, where they had a shrine (surprise) and a lot of cute carvings of little deities. They kept the lights dimmed, and gave all visitors tiny little lanterns (which I of course managed to snuff out while walking). It would have been an even greater impact if there had been less people around, but I've kinda gotten used to the fact that here, there pretty much is no alone. There are going to be people around pretty much no matter what. It's even kinda stopped bothering me.

And then, after that, the sea.

I mean, I don't think I'll ever understand people who are in love with the sea, as I don't much like being on it, or in it, but it does compell me as someone who likes being alone. A stony beach with no one around would've been preferable, but hell, just finding a lonesome rock and staring out onto the horizon makes you feel like you really could have done worse with your life. I should go back to Enoshima in the late fall, or winter. Desolate beaches with dark water under a grey sky are the best places for thinking, I think.

On our way back to the city we stopped in Kanagawa, outside of Yokohama, and ate dinner at what can only be described as a sushi factory. I mean, you have the conveyor belt style kaiten sushi, but fuck, this is Kaiten sushi with a capital K. This place wasn't fucking around. Electronic ordering tablets which would lead your food to be delivered on a special colour cordinated plate right to your seat on the belt, led to waitresses feeling like a thing of the past. I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.

This day ended in a way that felt distinctly Swedish, given that they offered meatball sushi, and I found a Japanese IKEA magazine waiting for me when I came home.

It's funny how those things kind of almost represent what's going on with me right now. I'm kinda mixing and morphing into this Japanese-Swedish version, and the fusion is working out surprisingly well.

The following weekend I hung around Yokohama with Manabu, checking out a 'small zoo without so many animals', according to him. What's the first thing I see? A red panda. If this is a small zoo, I've gotta say that I'm pretty psyched about a big zoo. They did manage to have one of my favourite animals in the world, after all.

Because look at this widdle fwuffy thing!

Despite being roughly five years old mentally when it comes to animals, I find zoos to be kinda depressing. The animals clearly aren't in their natural habitat, and they don't always look all that happy. That being said, I love watching the animals. I could probably do it for hours, if I wasn't overcome with the very intense desire to pet every single one of them. Seriously, it was nigh-on impossible to keep my hands out of the enclosures.

Except for this guy. I mean, what the fuck is that?

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the best sign that ever was.

Chilling with my fellow tall beings.

Bet you're sick of having people ask you if you play basketball too.

After chilling with the fluffies, Manabu and I hit up China Town. Now, this felt strangely nostalgic for me - growing up in Toronto, I have very fond memories of China Town: the weird smells, the grilled ducks hanging in the window, the noise, the countless other weird foods... Being back in that kind of environment felt really nice, and it made me kinda want to start planning to visit other Asian countries. I have a long-standing promise that I'd go see Yanyan in Hong Kong, although given the situation right now, I think I'll wait for a bit. But I'll definitely go, sometime.

Still cleaner than actual China though.

Pandas were a bit of a big deal.

Case in point, although I love me some panda propaganda.

After wandering aimlessly for a while, and eating lunch at a buffet that left us pretty much unable to even think of food for the coming eight hours, we got back on a bus and headed out to Sankeien, which I think may be one of my favourite places in the world. It has all those things I love - nature, beautiful buildings, and really friendly cats. Seriously, all other cats in the Tokyo area run away when I try to pet them, but in Sankeien they're all the most affectionate things you could imagine.

It wasn't my first visit to Sankeien, though. I actually went there with T, on what I think was the second or third time we ever met, way back when O and I first came to Japan over two years ago. It felt almost kinda surreal to be back. I felt like I've become this whole other person in the meantime.

Hello, my 2012 self, and hello to T's fluffy hair!

It just in a way made me realize all of the amazing effort I put into getting to where I am today, and how I can now reap the fruits of my labour. Not that everything's perfect, or that there's not more to do to improve, but I can feel happy in that I decided to do this gargantuan task, and that I actually did it. And I'm really happy I did.

Back in China Town for drinks and live music at a jazz bar, I found another small piece of (close enough to) home.

I'll tell you all about last weekend in my next post, because this one here is suddenly a million miles long. I hope you don't mind the picture spams. I know I've said this before, but I'm going to try to make October my 'get back on the wagon'-month. I think writing is one of those silent constants that do me good, so what better than to write you guys?