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January 2002: Pick a mostly arbitrary object
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Justin Hall
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Jan 13, 2002 14:38 PST
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Pick a mostly arbitrary object and focus relentlessly on it. The rest
of life will fall into place as you seek attainment of that goal.
Taking a summer class in Japanese at UC Berkeley, making small talk with
my teachers instead of studying grammer, Shibata-sensei mentioned that
she was from Akita, in Japan. Where's that? In the far north. In the
winter they get so much snow, it piles up to the rooves of the houses,
and people dig tunnels to get around.
Somehow that image of snowbound Japan, white and quiet became ever more
appealing as I was headbutted, crammed incommunicado into all the
marvelous corners of Tokyo I've seen in the last few months. Even
Americans reminding me that Minneapolis might afford the same
experience, or Japanese pointing out that "Akita" is the past-tense of
"to be bored" haven't dissuaded me.
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Win a Trip for the Web!
I'm giving a free plane ticket for the best Internet content proposal:
http://www.links.net/share/mileage/
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A K I T A
Moving to Akita for the winter might be like moving to Minnesota. But
like the rest of Japan, Akita is packed with hot springs. A fifty year
foreigner in Japan, Donald Richie explains that the hotsprings here are
a sensual experience without the sexual edge. Families, couples, men
and women enjoy the pools and tubs - hotsprings vacations are advertised
all over the Tokyo trains.
My rent in Tokyo is about a thousand dollars a month (paid in cash, in
person). For about that much money, I can stay in a room with a futon
and a hotplate and a heater, located on the grounds of Tsurunoyu, a 300
year old hotsprings in the mountains near lake Tazawa.
Dogs, farmers, novelists; whatever I find in Japan's snow country I'll
be writing up for my site. Yes, nice idea with the web page, but how do
you support yourself? Donald Richie asked. Work continues apace for
TheFeature.com, exploring international mobile phone culture. And
WirelessGamingReview. The entire economy is evaporating, but still
wireless technology news continues apace, right alongside prostitution
and Love Hotels here in Uguisudani.
(http://www.links.net/sex/prostitution.html)
My goal up there is to find out what I do when I'm away from
stimulation, constant blinking electronic lights, and a dependable
Internet connection.
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I'm serving as editor for an online magazine and community exploring
Japanese/Foreign cultural mixing called Chanpon. The site is at
http://www.chanpon.org/. I'm hunting articles; and if you've got any
ideas along Chanpon lines, let's email! I'll be travelling over an hour
each way to check my email at least once a week this winter.
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l e w d s i n g c u c k o o
In March I'll be in San Francisco, Austin, maybe Chicago or New York.
I'll be yakking a bit about Japanese mobile phones at South by Southwest
(http://www.sxsw.com/) and I hope to find some time there and a stage to
do some stand up storytelling on Japanese culture at large, as little as
I know about it.
Beyond that travel, I will likely return to Japan, perhaps to live in
Kyoto for the spring. Someone said that Kyoto is the San Francisco of
Japan; culturally oriented, smaller, beautiful with some lively minds.
I could just as well live in Korea or Kansas, except that studying this
language and learning how to participate in Japan feels like a long-term
relationship. If a compelling project lands in my lap I'll be off,
otherwise, I'm readying my mind for my next calling.
a r e y o u s e e i n g a n y o n e ?
My last few months in Japan I've been seeing a lot of a 25 year old
Japanese lady, Ayako. She's been a lively guide, friend, playmate,
teacher and troublemaker.
(http://www.links.net/vita/trip/japan/folks/ayako/considering.html)
This week I told her, when I hit the road I expect to meet other folks,
women included. And I hope to have the chance to get to know them well.
So I've been seeing a lot of Ayako, and maybe someday I'll see her
again. But I'm too young and too hungry to settle into anything today.
It's that hunger that helped me find my recent arbitrary goal, and it's
that hunger that's made all the rest of my life the path I've trodden,
to get what it is I haven't found yet.
Occasionally I wonder if what I'm hungering for is fatherhood. Young,
my father passed away. I've had several wonderful substitutes,
replacements. I spent much of my young time fighting them, pissed off
and struggling to find that father I felt I didn't have. Now as I age
and I look around, I wonder if America maybe and probably Japan they're
probably looking for a father as well. Projecting my father-search on
entire nations is likely a symptom of some aging - at least I'm able to
distance myself from my problems to see that they might be problems for
others.
Further distance, and I wonder if I might someday try my hand. I've
been a leader of small groups before - mostly with my mouth more than
with money or management. On the Chiyoda line the other day headed for
Akasaka, I saw a giant American man in a thick down jacket board the
train and stand in a cleared space in the the middle of the car.
Strapped on to his back was a baby-carrier, a backpack sporting a quiet
inquisitive kid who reached up to touch the low-hanging advertisements,
as his guardian stared off unawares. I wondered what my life would be
like with a child strapped to my chest. For a moment I imagined that I
could live as I live now, except with a full-time student, assistant and
pain-in-the-ass accompanying me to every meeting, meal and task. I
would be unable to write much, I reasoned. But I would learn to be a
father with every cell of my body.
A foolhearty notion from a young man. Like moving to Akita in the
winter.
l i n k s
My site front page is more straightforward to be sure; redesigned to
evoke a certain economy of design and a focus on individual articles:
http://www.links.net/
JoAnne recoiled at this; "what happened to the eccentric guy named
justin, what happened to the creative mind of mr. hall, what happend?"
Well there were the holidays,
Christmas in Japan: More neon than Nativity
http://www.links.net/vita/trip/japan/spirit/christmas/
New Year's: All Night at Tokyo Disneyland: Japan sleeps with the mouse
http://www.links.net/vita/trip/japan/spirit/newyear/2002/
Awake Early with the Yakuza: Celebrating the Emperor's Birthday
http://www.links.net/daze/01/12/emperor.html
And associating with writers and mentors,
A fifty year foreigner: meeting Donald Richie
http://www.links.net/vita/trip/japan/media/bukz/donaldrichie/200201notes.html
Hanging out at the Foreign Correspondent's Club of Japan
http://www.links.net/vita/trip/japan/gaijin/fccj/
with people like Bob Neff, undoubtedly the foreigner alive who best
knows Japanese hot springs. He freely offered his knowledge between
sips of coffee, waiting for an FCCJ meeting. A gracious fellow, Neff
appreciates Hot Springs as the culmination of Japanese cuisine, art,
architecture, landscape, tradition. His book "Japan's Hidden
Hotsprings" contains much of what he communicated to me.
And writing:
TheFeature.com - True Wireless
http://www.thefeature.com/index.jsp?url=article.jsp?pageid=13566
What if we could send electricity through the sky like we do data?
Considering wireless electricity and other ways to make mobile phones
truly wireless; cutting the power plug.
Writing in Japanese, as a child or worse:
http://www.links.net/vita/trip/japan/nihongo/
As ever, please feel free to advertise your labors of love on my web
site; details on the front page.
Justin Hall
http://www.links.net/
jus-@bud.com
Justin Hall
c/o The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan
7-1, Yurakucho 1-chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100-0006
Japan
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