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February 9, 2005

Ten Years

It's been a pretty busy couple of days. I had been getting home past midnight the last few days, so today I decided I had enough, and came home early. Saw the soccer match (Japan narrowly defeated North Korea 1-0), sat with mom & dad watching a few more ドラマ (soap operas). Now I am very sleepy. I believe the late nights and the big city life is wearing me out a bit.

Seeing old friends, new acquaintances sharing food and drinks... it's all great fun. Navigating the megalopolis Tokyo is very tiring though, and I remember that it was one of the main reasons I left Tokyo in the first place. That was nearly 10 years ago now, and it only gets harder to imagine myself living here. Moreover, I see that my ties are getting weaker: fewer people to contact, and those I do contact, I can only spend very limited time with. It's good to see them, for sure. But at the same time, what's the point? We all have 'moved on' in one way or another in the interim years, getting married, taking a job, switching a job, making children, etc., etc. It's not hard to see that continuing to see each other every three years for three hours isn't filling the gaps very well.

Maybe it's important to keep the connections alive, as frayed as they may have become. One thing I can say is that seeing these old friends, it's like peering through a tiny opening to the past. I remember random details about myself and of my old memories. It is a good feeling -- getting to know myself from those good old days.

I bought a digital camera in Shinjuku yesterday. It's a little cute camera, very snappy and easy to use. Now I can record all the details of my life visually, all in their 4-mega pixel, million-color glory.

Posted by Akira at February 9, 2005 11:00 PM

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