Entries this day: Starbucks Tomoko

Starbucks

4:37pm JST Saturday 24 September 2005

Starbucks Coffee.

Thank you for letting me plug in my MAC and transcribe journal entries. I am allll most done.

Also here in Starbucks, thee girls are primping: one is putting on mascara and eyeliner. One is curling her hair with a battery operated curling iron. The third is facing away from me, so I can't see what she is doing. They're all chattering away at high speed.

Across the table from me there is a dude composing music with a little miniature keyboard. The woman next to me is doing her homework.

Oh, the third primping girl is actually sending text messages on her phone while talking with her friends. Now the second one is using the curling iron and the first is putting on lip gloss.

Tokyo is amazing.

6:30pm JST Saturday 24 September 2005

I have just finished tape 31. I have two more 90 minute tapes to go, and then I'm done with transcription!!

After that I will work on getting images incorporated into my journal (there are many on my site already so I won't have to upload them again) and then I'll be done with this project!!

Then it will be time to seriously get ready (primarily just get rid of my shit) for Palestine!!!!!

Tomoko

7:22pm JST Saturday 24 September 2005

When I got on the train in Shibuya, there was a woman wearing a purple sweat suit type thing that showed off her midriff, which wasn't all anorexic like some Japanese women, but still shown off, and attracted my attention.

After the train left the station I was like, "woah" when she did a pullup on the handle thing above the door! Like, "woah!"

Like monkeys copying each other, I did some almost pullups on the oh-shit handles behind her.

At one point, we caught each other's eyes and she smiled. Woah.

This is quite rare in Japan. For someone to smile at me on the train, and for someone to do pullups on the train... Woah. Maybe people who are comfortable doing pull ups on the train are comfortable smiling at strangers.

Then, I was further amazed when she spoke English to me and we chatted about work and I briefed her on my travels and travel plans. We got off the train in Æó»Ò¶ÌÀî and chatted for a bit more while I waited for the local train to arrive. I invited her to play ultimate with us tomorrow. She has never played before, but she knows the baseball fields next to which we play. Interesting to see if she shows up!