TamTam Books News Friday, June 04, 2004: For the next week or so I will be trampling around my favorite Island, Japan. I will be looking for the lost Japanese subtitled film print of ‘L’Ecume des jours’ among other delights. It was in Japan that I became aware of Boris Vian via my wife. After that ‘awareness’ and much money spent (and not earned back as of yet) I fell into the arms and mind of M. Vian and his world in Japan. So yes, it is odd that I discovered the charms of French pop culture among a bookstore visit in Shibuya, Tokyo. It’s peculiar that Japan represents a radical change for me. It is the one area of the world that got me writing seriously. Basically surrounded by a culture that I didn’t (and still struggling) to understand made me think of poetry and stories that were about Japan in a sense, but in the long run it wasn’t about that country at all. I was writing about something that was deeply important to me – which is…me! But what one doesn’t understand usually leads to all sorts of adventures. So I am looking forward to further adventures as well as serious notebook doodlings. This will be my 12th or 15th trip to Japan – so I basically won’t cover the famous (but wonderful) cliches of used panties in plastic bags, and the wonder of the bullet train. Instead I will try to cover the tracks of a certain Edogawa Rampo and enjoy the dualities of 60’s Japanese Garage rock a.k.a. group sounds. That will be the soundtrack in my mind while walking the streets of Tokyo & Moji-Ku and I am not taking any music with me. Tosh // 5:00 PM ______________________ Comments: Post a Comment
For the next week or so I will be trampling around my favorite Island, Japan. I will be looking for the lost Japanese subtitled film print of ‘L’Ecume des jours’ among other delights. It was in Japan that I became aware of Boris Vian via my wife. After that ‘awareness’ and much money spent (and not earned back as of yet) I fell into the arms and mind of M. Vian and his world in Japan. So yes, it is odd that I discovered the charms of French pop culture among a bookstore visit in Shibuya, Tokyo. It’s peculiar that Japan represents a radical change for me. It is the one area of the world that got me writing seriously. Basically surrounded by a culture that I didn’t (and still struggling) to understand made me think of poetry and stories that were about Japan in a sense, but in the long run it wasn’t about that country at all. I was writing about something that was deeply important to me – which is…me! But what one doesn’t understand usually leads to all sorts of adventures. So I am looking forward to further adventures as well as serious notebook doodlings. This will be my 12th or 15th trip to Japan – so I basically won’t cover the famous (but wonderful) cliches of used panties in plastic bags, and the wonder of the bullet train. Instead I will try to cover the tracks of a certain Edogawa Rampo and enjoy the dualities of 60’s Japanese Garage rock a.k.a. group sounds. That will be the soundtrack in my mind while walking the streets of Tokyo & Moji-Ku and I am not taking any music with me. Tosh // 5:00 PM
