the koenji-asagaya residential stretch is very clean under the grey clouds. I live there. I’m walking around it today. everything is clean and organized in a calm way. there is little excitement. but it feels healing after living in thailand. the streets are quiet. as is the night. but on weekends the parks hum with activity. for a dense population, the respectability is deafening. no loud gas-belching scooters. instead, old-boy tennis clubs pinging balls, dog walkers along the river surrounded by yellow grass. the grass is a sick yellow but the mood is lifting. the seasonal machinery creaking into action. it always happens around the end of march, doesn’t it. a peek of sun behind the cloud. children’s laughter and running footsteps. adults walking. birds running along that sick yellow grass sensing the arrival of spring. the local convenience stores and supermarkets are white and spotless. as are the cars in the parking lots. as is the tarmac and the white lines painted on the tarmac in the parking lots. what infrastructure. everyone pays their taxes. separates their trash. takes it out on correct days.
it’s a respectable living area, koenji-asagaya. only disturbed by sirens of fire engines and police cars rushing off to somewhere busier. I walk through unnoticed. an unconnected stranger in a clean Japanese neighborhood. I buy a sweet potato shochu with ice cup and take it to a park bench. sitting, puffing, observing. the colour comes back into the cheeks here. its clean living. from good food, good air, calm streets. and with much yearly paperwork out the way. one more week of it – I have saved the best to last – my three year work visa renewal and passport renewal. but I can see the finish line. cheers, shochu ice clinking. there is surely madness here too – in the koenji-asagaya residential stretch – it must just be well hidden. have a good sunday.
by EnglishmanInHell