2002-08-02 - 10:43 p.m.
Yesterday I left Kimitsu, exactly one year after I arrived. I hate packing and leaving places, and moving internationally has to be one of my most-hated tasks. Still, leaving Kimitsu wasn't all that traumatic. I'm used to leaving places I'm in love with -- summer camp, Amsterdam, Vassar -- but as much as I like Kimitsu, I don't think it's a place for which I'll yearn. On Wednesday at dusk I went out for a last bike ride around town. I got sentimental about the cake shop on the corner and took a picture. Likewise of Kimitsu's lackluster main street. I biked past futons and Hello Kitty blankets airing out on balconies, past brand-new 3-bedroom houses and dilapidated company apartments. Past the junk yard, overflowing with rust, and across a bridge spanning a river flanked with vegetable gardens on either side. I headed toward my second junior high school, and found that where bulldozers had been clearing rice fields in October, an assisted-living facility has been erected. I stopped by the 24-hour rice shucking machine to take a picture of the rice fields, as cars slowed down to see who would photograph such a mundane landscape. I headed back at dark to finish packing and cleaning. In the morning when my boss picked me up, it hardly felt like I was moving out because the place is furnished. Even today I've had "when I go back to Kimitsu..." thoughts. But chances are, I'll never go back there.
Since I got to Tokyo yesterday afternoon, I've been watching movies non-stop. I bought a pass to the Tokyo International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival which enables me to see all of the movies... it feels truly luxurious. I ran into my friend Zeb who'd also bought a pass, and along with a couple others I met yesterday, we've got a nice little film-watching posse. Watching movies all day is not as easy as it may seem. Yesterday was all films from Taiwan and China. It's one thing to curl up on your couch for a video marathon, it's another to sit in a not-so comfortable chair listening to Chinese and reading subtitles for six hours. With only 20 minutes between films, it feels a bit like a tightly-scheduled conference! Today was easier because all of the films were in English. Tommorrow is mostly Japanese, which should be enjoyable with the subtitles. Last Saturday I went to see a Japanese movie (sans subtitles), and understood NOTHING, except when someone said "san zen en," "three thousand yen."
After the film festival, I'll be trying to find good air-conditioned places to spend my days in Tokyo. Saori's apartment doesn't have air-conditioning, and it's in the 90s... Honestly, yesterday I was taking a cold bath and I actually got jealous of the food in the fridge. Why does it get to be cold, when I have to be hot?
Another movie note: When American films are released here, sometimes funny things happen to the titles. If the English title is deemed easy enough, it's put directly into Japanese. Stuart Little 2 becomes Suchuato Ritaru 2. Vanilla Sky becomes Baniira Sukai. But titles that don't translate well are sometimes changed. I watched Pleasantville last week, and the Japanese title was Kura Obu Raifu. Get that one? Color Of Life. At the video store I was looking for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, but I couldn't find it under that title. I was trying to think of possible Japanese titles... Supuraisu Diina (Surprise Dinner) came to mind, but that wasn't it either. Oh well, I'll just rent it in the States!
