to-kyo
There's this moment, halfway through the seemingly never ending flight to Tokyo, about the time we cross the international date line, where the reality sets in. Yes, Tokyo is finally showing up on the little digital map in the seatback in front of me. I'm going to be there, today (or tomorrow, as it works out to be).
I need Tokyo like the wind needs the leaves, to bastardize a lovely line by Stephen Merritt. That city was my home for two years, and every time I go back, it is as though I am not returning home exactly, but more like I am plugging into a source of energy. I need its paradox, its whimsy, its combination of quiet, wise introspection and gaudy tackiness. I need the never-ending stream of eye candy and the monthly all-too- noticeable earthquake tremors. I need the intense sense of group collaboration and relentlessly provocative surface. That collective surface of the city, the sounds, clothes, seamless social interactions, architecture, smooth public transit, realized through the conduit of the public masks worn by the city's inhabitants, it all adds up to a experience that is like nothing else. At once I have a feeling of distance combined with warmth. I am and will always be the outsider while in this city, but what a great view I have.
---Roddy (somewhere over the Pacific)---