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Ah~nostalgia!
I was reading a forum about people coming to Japan for the first time and worrying about what to say. There was one about a guy wanting to phone his girlfriend in Japan, but was scared her mother or sisters would pick up the phone and start waxing in Japanese, as they often do in Japan. I remember when I used to phone Naomi up and I'd get her mum and I'd say my few hesitant words of Japanese and be thrilled that she fiegned understanding. It was all so fresh back then. I was phoning this world so far away, so clean and orderly and nice. That was my biggest impression back then: Japan was a nice place, with friendly people and everything seemed so damn cool. I used to really think the Japanese were too cool for this planet. I used to say that to Mike. He used to correctly say that they think we're damn cool too. When I first came to Japan, I stayed for 2 weeks at Naomi's house. It was fantastic. I used to have a beer every night with her Dad, I watched completely incomprehensible TV with the family, ate very impolite amounts of everything that was put infront of me, and visited these places that were just so damn cool : Shibuya ( bloody noisy friggin place full of stupid high school girls ) Tokyo tower ( still cool ) Sensoji temple ( s'aright, but I'm too cool for it now! ) Okonomiyaki ( fried omlette thingy, which is still very nice although haven't had it for ages )Japanese wedding ( the first and last. Was great...I recall getting really nervous when I had to say congratulations to Naomi's brother! ) Nike Town ( haven't been back since with her brothers dicount passes! ) Ueno First Kitchen ( every time I pass the Ueno store I remember my first hour in Tokyo. We'd taken the train from Narita, we got off at Ueno, walked through these crazy streets and had a burger and butter chips! The trip from Narita was amazing : All I remember was that there were friggin loads of cables and pylons! And I was friggin nervous about meeting Naomi's parents! I had a smoke on the train which was cool too ). I returned from my trip a heart full of presents : CD player, Nike shirts, shoes, beckoning cats etc. I think this holiday changed my life! Everything changes our lives, but this changed my life completely. I also remember smoking mini "Hope" cigarettes that were damn small and cool, on the stairs outside Naomi's appartment. I would look out over Shinobazu road and breath in the fumes and humidity. This smell stills remains with me : It's probably a terrible smell, but it's associations transcend it. I know these feelings will never come back. But now I have new ways of looking at Japan and Tokyo. Back then I really didn't see any of the negative aspects of Japan. And I didn't really see any of the positive ones either- I was lost in a haze of joy. Usually looking back is a trick : We never see things as they were or even are, but I think back then in those 2 weeks I really did have a great time. I don't think I'd be here otherwise.
It's nice to look back. If I don't do it sometimes, I feel lost in the present.
Anyway, that was my present nostalgia and earlier today I did "my brother coming over" nostalgia. That was fun too.
Ah~nostalgia!
posted by PA on Thursday, July 15, 2004
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