cold nights, warm heart

While sitting in a hot bath on a chilly night after meeting a friend at the station--- coincidentally living pretty close to each other in western Tokyo after becoming friends in Kitakyushu five years or so ago---  it came as a flash. I hadn't thought about M in a long time, nor had I thought of W. A positive and a negative force in reverse chronological order that had left me in the middle, hopelessly neutral.

It also occurred to me suddenly that for now at least, writer's block was also a thing of the past.

Love, love, and more. . .

I still can't believe I'm back in Japan.

I should clarify. . . I'm back in the best place that I've ever lived, a place that I never thought I'd be able to come back to ---

I found an apartment close to the station where I used to live, but this time a 15 minute walk from other side of the station--- in a wonderfully quiet neighborhood, so quiet in fact that I feel like I'm camping. But not due to being rural (this is Tokyo!)

There is an aesthetic in Japan that I'd somehow forgotten. Small gardens and plots of land with various small trees -- there are chestnut trees outside my window--

even one of the little farm stands that leaves their produce out ("We trust you to pay")

And more than that, there is a respect for quietness and peace.

Not to say that Japanese people are always quiet--- go out to any bar in Shinjuku at any hour of the night and you'll find the rowdiest scene imaginable--- but in their homes, people like to feel at peace; it's more conducive to resting well--- and my way of thinking also fits this paradigm.

AND some of my best friends are right down the street.

Nothing is perfect, but this comes pretty darn close.