Kitsune, the Vandal?

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrR! But it ends well.

Never before have I felt the urge to commit vandalism. Today, I bypassed urge and went straight to need. The safeties were about to blow, the temperature and pressure within my various body systems were far above specs, so great was the stress needed to keep me out of jail for vandalism.

Work today required me to carry a lot of heavy stuff with me. In my backpack were my iPad Pro (the large model) Mac Book Air, power plugs and cables, various connectors for each to a projector, three external battery packs and cables to use them, a computer mouse, mouse pad and more. In my travel desk I have all you would expect to find in your desk at home plus a few things that would not be in everyone’s. After seeing a clear photo on substack of Mt. Fuji from 60 miles away, I bought the same model camera used and am carrying it daily. Long ago, off and on, I carried my SLR and then the various DSLR cameras I have owned with me all the time. I planned to take up this hobby again but my Cannon 7D is heavy. The Nikon CoolPix 900 seems to weigh less than the battery for my Cannon. Plus, my largest telephoto for my DSLR is not capable of that shot seen on substack taken with the same Nikon.

The travel desk is a great asset to have in the classroom. The podiums in Japan are not built for tall folk and the strain on either my lower back from bending down to see my class notes or on my neck from opting to bend it instead of my back makes a “must have” out of my travel desk. However, as big of an asset it is for work, it is a liability on the commute and even worse when playing an Iowan. (Idiots Out Wondering Aimlessly-IOWA) No problems, thought foolish I, “I’ll put it in a coin locker and wonder about unencumbered with it.

I bet many a reader can guess where this is going. If you are not among them, pause for a moment, recall other topics that frequent my stack and see if you too can foresee the future.

Hundreds and hundreds of coin locks I did find around the Tokyo Dome, many of which were still available despite the entire premises and surrounding precincts being completely overrun be females of all ages between jr. high school age to 40s for some K-pop boy band’s world tour. So, why was I so near blowing my top? All cashless.

After passing hundreds of cashless “coin lockers” in two different banks, I finally stumbled across a small number, say around a score, that did accept cash in addition to a wide array of cashless methods. About a third of these were empty. There is another change to coin lockers that had been slowly creeping across the land until lately. Instead of a key, users of coin lockers are given a print out of the receipt with a, you guessed it, QR code to unlock the locker. Keys had the locker number on them but not the location of the locker, the receipt has both the number and location. Hummmmmmm. What could possibly go wrong?

This is the receipt and “key” for the coin locker I stowed my excess baggage in before heading over to the maid cafe.

Free at last from what would be dead weight for the trek I was set to embark upon, I set out for lunch. The original plan was to eat near the school but not at Toxic Hell as I used to. As it looks like I will be permanently Stateside in a year or so, I prefer local fare. The lines outside every single place to gain sustenance in the area immediately surrounding Tokyo Dome being so long due to the concert that starvation before ordering was closer to a realistic fear than it should be, I had to walk further afield than planned for lunch. Looking down a narrow side street my eye caught a sign stating that teishoku were available. I found a new lunch spot. Plan on having lunch there every Friday. Great food, perfect volume and low priced.

The area around the Tokyo Dome once was home to independent stores selling just about anything one associates with Japan; tea, wagashi (Japanese confectionery), tea ceremony items which include pottery, lacquerware, flower vases, incense burners, and stores selling all these independent from each other. After lunch, which I enjoyed in this area, I walked around looking for these. Found not a one. The original order of the day called for me visiting another nearby neighborhood again looking for ukiyoe to replace some of the collection I lost to the exwife and I now plotted a course for it.

The route took me back through the seas of femininity surging around Tokyo Dome City. Fighting against the running tide of concert goers through streams made more torrential by the sidewalks restricted by those who spread unofficial goods of the Korean boy band performing upon blankets for the view of passersby. Passing past Suidobashi station, I detoured to see if I could find the bar a coworker and I used to meet up at prior to the panic. I heard from him that the elderly owner was retiring and sold it, in fact, I now remember that we went to it once it was under new ownership. Nice place but lacking that whatever one who owned and worked it for four or more decades brought to it. Or, in short, it went from classic and unique to modern cookie cutter. While I am sure I must have walked past it, I did not recognize where it was.

The street between Suidobashi station and Jimbocho subway station was once lined with used book stores. Few of these remain. In their places are now many Korean or Chinese restaurants, a coffee house or two, maybe more, and one huge parking lot. While tiny by comparison to parking lots in the U.S., I do not recall ever seeing a parking lot even a quarter the size of this new one in Tokyo. It was not there the last time I cruised the area, which I think was during the panic.

Once I hit Yasukuni Avenue, I turned right. It had been many years since I explored this part of Jimbocho. Unlike the other direction, this section maintained more of the century or so old buildings that fill my memories from the mid 90s. Most of those between this corner in the direction of Akihabara and Kanda have been torn down and replaced with the soulless buildings the much of modern architecture embraces.

Two old buildings in the part of the area I had visited in many years.

Many of the used book stores in this part of Tokyo sell not only books but also movie posters, pamphlets and books for movies, art work, magazines, basically anything printed with the addition of some painted art and pottery. Unbeknownst to me, there was a used book fair today. Along the sidewalks venders had tables set up displaying all this. I am looking for a specific type of ukiyoe. Originals of the famous ones are expensive and even those in the best condition show that they are over 100 years old. It is easy to find these but more easy to find modern copies printed with modern processes. I look for reproductions where modern artists and craftmen carve new woodblocks and print using the same technique used in the past. The set given to me was sold by a newspaper publisher and were of these high quality reproductions with excellent explanations in Japanese and English.

Last week I looked through the area and bought a lot of these. Today I quickly found one from the set I lost at a reasonable price. Soon after I found a bundle of the entire collation of multiple series by Hokusai for ＄200 but these were merely color copies of originals. Nice if you are only looking for the images only, but pricy for me. The same vender also had many of the reproductions I seek. LOTS of them. Lots of them for half I spent on the first one bought today. I spent over half an hour looking through the whole lot, pulling out those I was interested in including multiple copies of the same scenes. I then compared the copies to choose the best one of them. After this process, a large stack remained. A lot of money. Should I spread out these purchases? Not going to find these at this price again, so I bought them. I asked where their store was and opened the free map of used book stores in the area and was told that they are from about an hour train’s ride distant. Glad I choose to go ahead and buy these.

Walking along the street, I found two vintage Japanese dolls priced at ¥1000 on a table outside a stationery store. In disbelief, I walked in to verify the price was correct. It was and I bought one. Another Japanese wood block print would join the full blown collection I picked up as I wound my to Ochanomizu station which by now was much closer than Suidobashi station where I left my travel desk in the coin locker.

The doll I purchased for ¥1000, which I think is around $8. USD.

Taking the train one stop just to pick up my desk, from the same station a few minutes later I took the train two stops back through Ochanomizu, disembarking at Akihabara. One of my favorite student maids is graduating tomorrow and I wanted to see her and get polaroids with her before she left. Given that all the rest of Akihabara station is cashless, it came as no surprise that the “coin lockers” were too. I knew of a bank of coin lockers that replaced one of the once many electronic component stores that the area was once famous for. The lockers there accept cash and my desk, new ukiyoe collection and doll were left here because there is no room for all this at the maid cafe in addition to my back pack, iPad and camera which I carried with me.

In the lobby fronting the maid cafe, one of my current student maids saw me. She was there to see the same maid for the same reason. The departing maid was on break and when we were called we were asked is there was a certain maid we wished to visit. AS she was on break they asked if we were willing to wait until she was back on shift. Of course, we replied “Yes”. I joked that we were rivals as we would be going in at roughly the same time, unless we were seated next to each other. The off duty student maid immediately assumed a defensive/offensive and said “I shall win!”and laughed.

She was seated first and I saw her at a table along the back wall and waved as I was seated along the counter in front of her. The reason for our visit saw her first but she pointed out that I was there too, to say “goodbye”. . Once she finished eating, she asked to be reseated next to me so that we could both talk the departing maid. That was nice. It was a good day, better than I have a right to expect given the way things are.

I with Kurage (Jelly fish), the maid who graduates Sunday.