I’d like to get down to working on our next song soon, but before that, I need to set up my studio all over again in my new apartment. So far, piles of cardboard boxes have occupied my new place. To make space for a studio, I should unpack those cardboard boxes and sort out their contents. Then, I’ll take measures to soundproof by myself. As I did to the walls of my old apartment, I’ll fix folded cardboard boxes to all over the wall, cover them with soundproof polyurethane, put more cardboard boxes on it as a sandwich, and add soundproof sheets over it. Done with only one side of the wall. I should repeat this for other sides of the wall and the ceiling. I’m a little frustrated at this cumbersome process to start arranging our new song. The melody and the words of the new song have been completed, so that makes me want to start working on the arrangement soon all the more. I know it will only take a long, long time to finish the song once I get down to it after all…
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rusty and shabby 6/24
A new restaurant opened one train station away from my new place according to the Internet. It seemed an American cuisine restaurant which specialty were a cheeseburger and a waffle, which is rare in this area. There are many other restaurants on the street where the new restaurant opened and I’d wanted to stroll along it sometime. Most restaurants there were introduced with the pictures on the Internet and looked neat enough. I was pretty sure that they wouldn’t disappoint me this time around, and went there for lunch. But, sadly, my jaw dropped yet again. It was as if the pictures I’d seen on the Internet had been taken 30 years before or something. All the restaurants were rusty and shabby. The street looked deserted with nobody strolling along. I spotted the new American restaurant among them and a man dressed in a white cook uniform was sitting in a chair in front of the place looking at his cell phone. The door was left open and I glanced at the inside. There was no customer in a cramped restaurant. The online photo of the place was far better than the actual one. Whoever took the online photos of the restaurants on this street must have a genius for making dreadful sights look beautiful. As I was starving, I entered the least unsightly restaurant where some customers had just come out. They served the meal twice as much as an ordinary restaurant and it was so delicious. Unexpectedly, It was a pleasant eating experience. I went home feeling like trying other restaurants on that street as well. As for the American restaurant, I’m still not sure if I have the courage to go in…
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back in time 6/23
I found out that there was a downtown area in the region of my new place and went to look around. It was a twenty-minute train ride from my apartment. According to an online map, a shopping mall building was right next to the train station, but further information wasn’t available anywhere on the Internet. When I actually got off the train and stood at the station, my jaw dropped. A shopping space that had been called a mall on a map was a one-story shabby building with few stores. It was like a swap meet, rather than a mall. The main street in front of the station seemed to be caught in a time warp. I felt back in time walking through the old, forlorn shops. Murmuring ‘Downtown? Can’t be!’ I decided to try another shopping mall about a mile off. After I walked for 25 minutes through rice paddies and vacant lots, a huge suburban shopping center appeared. It was what we called a mall. I felt greatly relieved that I found a place to shop for my life in a new town. The shopping center had the free shuttle from the station. My long walk was totally lost labor…
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things in Tokyo 6/22
Moving to a new place reminds me about the time when I first left home. I had always longed to live in Tokyo since childhood, watching modern high-rises or cool apartments in TV dramas. I knew that would never happen to me because I was a firstborn in a family succeeded from generation to generation and was destined to finish my life in the country family house. But music provoked me to throw away everything-my family, friends, college life and, above all, secure life-and to move to Tokyo. As almost all Japanese record companies were in Tokyo and there were many musicians as well, I thought it would be easy to promote my music and find good band members. In actual fact, I only found bad musicians in an unsightly city with too many people, and the record companies picked trashy songs by ignoring mine. Except that I was so happy to have left the place where I was born, things in Tokyo weren’t as good as I had expected…
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‘unagi’ bowl 6/21
It’s the middle of the rainy season in Japan. Even without sunshine, daytime highs are around 86 degrees every day. The worst thing is unbearable humidity. It easily exceeds 90%. We are virtually walking around inside a sauna. Maybe because of the horrible conditions, I haven’t been well lately. I’ve felt tired and had a mild headache all the time. Of course I use air conditioning, but the huge difference between inside and outside somehow makes me sick. I really had to do something for my poor condition and bought an ‘unagi’ bowl at a supermarket. An ‘unagi’ bowl is a Japanese dish that has a slice of a grilled eel over rice and is poured with sweet sauce made by soy sauce. It’s usually expensive, but I got one using a cheaper Chinese eel, also at half price. Eating an eel is supposed to be effective to get physical strength in Japan and people are having it in summer. I counted on an eel this time too. But while I’m explaining an ‘unagi’ bowl, it sounds more and more grotesque. I eat a strange thing…