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Published by nico
on Sunday, March 01, 2009 at 5:20 pm.
Your memories become fantasies if they are not shared, and your life in all its triviality becomes a legend. Aleksandar Hemon, Nowhere Man
I have always found peace and comfort with a journey started in the wee hours of the morning, the kind of time when the rest of the world around you is asleep. Even the way that lovely sense of isolation gently melts away around you as the world joins you on today’s journey. So waving goodbye to Kyoto I board the early morning Hakari service to Tokyo. I breathe in the morning likes it’s my first and last.
I took video of the first 10 minutes of the journey but I’ve cut it into 3 smaller segments to show you how the speed increases... and then increases... and then some more. Just when you think you are at top speed ,the whine of electric motors propels you forward. The train journey is quick, quiet and clean. How very Japanese. At times we hug the sea, distant snow cover mountains come and go. The next 60 seconds we plunge back into a tunnel and emerge in a small town surround by the odd rice field. But the city never really stops... As I hope I have made clear, Japan is very beautiful in many ways but I don’t find much joy in the many cities that feel the same again and again. In some ways it feels like the above shot sums up how the majority of daily life looks life. Part of me would be happy to live in Japan for a year or two but another part of me wonders about the joy found in the daily average Japanese existence. This coming from a man who doesn’t really like apartments. Hmmm… I think I'm incorrect but there would be only one way to find out. Still it was back to a city I’ve always enjoy, Tokyo!
As I hope I have made clear, Japan is very beautiful in many ways but I don’t find much joy in the many cities that feel the same again and again. In some ways it feels like the above shot sums up how the majority of daily life looks life. Part of me would be happy to live in Japan for a year or two but another part of me wonders about the joy found in the daily average Japanese existence. This coming from a man who doesn’t really like apartments. Hmmm… I think I'm incorrect but there would be only one way to find out. Still it was back to a city I’ve always enjoy, Tokyo!
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