2001-08-28 - 6:29 p.m.
Today I saw four children walking out of the Joyful Honda World of Pet Center. Two girls, about 9 or so, each carried plastic terrariums with wood chips and hamster wheels inside. Behind them, two little boys who were about 4 or so, trailed behind. Each of the boys was carrying a little cardboard box with holes in it. New hamsters from the pet store. For some reason it struck me as very touching.
The other day, I saw someone in the train station talking into his watch. Lela's cell phone takes digital photos. Last week, I was standing in the parking lot of my apartment and a car started without anybody in it. A few minutes later, its owner emerged from her apartment and entered the vehicle, which was already cool because she had started it from the apartment via remote. Did I ever mention that all the cars here have computer screens in them with maps that track the route as you drive? In Tokyo this weekend, I saw a vending machine that dispenses flower arrangements for $15-25. On one of the big roads in Kimitsu there is a vending machine that dispenses rice by the kilogram.
There is a subculture of teens here who dress in a style called "Gothic Lolita." It involves wearing frilly black dresses with lace and bows -- almost like a french maid costume -- pale makeup, and doing one's hair in ringlets, little-girl style. Imagine if Marilyn Manson made a 19th century baby doll.
Lela and I saw the Gay and Lesbian Parade in Tokyo yesterday. It was only the second ever, and according to one report I read, there were 4,000 people there. This is a huge number for a country where alternatives to heterosexuality are absent from the public sphere. In many ways, it looked like pride in the U.S. -- drag queens and regular folks, boys dancing on floats, rainbow flags. But as anyone who's been to pride in a major US city knows, in America it is a more a parade of corporate sponsors than anything else. The Tokyo parade, by contrast, was comprised of about a dozen local businesses and community groups, joined by lots of people just marching along. Rather than flags, they handed out rainbow fans. Unassuming shoppers looked amused as the parade snaked through one of Tokyo's busiest and ritziest retail districts, but everyone from children to old folks, seemed delighted by the drag queens. How can anyone, in any culture, NOT smile when confronted with a fabulous human peacock in platforms?
