To Think With Their Thoughts

Flying up over Fukuoka.  Down below there is a ramen stadium.  I had ramen today.  It was good, but not great. In my mind ramen in Tokyo is always great. I went to the Tonkatsu place among the different choices there to choose there, beneath the rails, up the road form Shinagawa station.  If I’m meeting someone at the clock there in the station at noontime, we may as well head out for ramen. 

I always order gyoza as well.  Guotianr by another name.   There are sprigs of chives inside the xianr and it always tastes the same no matter which place you head to.  This time the broth was a bit salty.  The pork bone should adequately flavor things without such a salty overload.  And I, with an eye, towards weight maintenance sup the broth and leave most of the noodles.  This, unless the broth ain’t worth supping. 

The gent I was meeting with then recommended the Prince hotel across the street for coffee.  I would not have been my choice.  But, why not.  “Yes, let’s go there.” And off we went.  I always stay at another hotel.  This one, he pointed out to me, has some pretty reasonable rates, within the different rooms they offered.  Still, it felt particularly functional and uninspired, meandering about within the lobby, such as it was, out to the food court and off to the terrace.  There were kids running around, screaming, unsupervised, near our table.  “School hasn’t started yet,” he offered.  “Next week.” Still I found myself mastering flashes of W.C. Fields as rocks flew our way and kids hid beneath the adjoining table, screaming past me. 

As stated in an earlier entry, I goofed when I booked this trip and had all traveling in and out of Narita.  This is great if you want nostalgia.  But it certainly means an extra hour in and an extra hour back out. Narita has a special routine though.  I always check the Tsutsaya book store there. I found an interesting collection of Lafcadio Hearn’s (1850-1904) writing on Japan.  Anglo-Irish and Greek, his aim was “to think with their thoughts.” It looks like I’ll need to be back here next month and I’ll gobble this up on the flight over, dipped in the Japan of infinite possibilities.  Narita also has the Design Tee Shirt Store Graniph.”  I got my little one a cooking motif shirt for her upcoming birthday and myself a strange tee shirt with a wall of blue swipes and the German word for that color listed atop.

Flying home now.  Making nice with the stewardess who seemed to be Japanese until she morphed into a Chinese individual with her Mandarin response to another man’s question.  This guy came out of some other corner of the plane and sat down across the aisle from me and began talking loudly in Chinese to the woman behind me.  It’s OK.  It’s OK.  I have head phones.  And now I feel thrilled that the Japanese man in front of me has decided to talk across this intruders’ facial sphere to the other Japanese guy beside him.  Slow your heart down.  Focus on what you’re doing.  September, from the vantage of September First, is going to be a very busy month. 

Friday, 09/01/17