5:26AM on Monday morning. I'm wide awake and empty-headed. Thankfully, I've another 4 episodes of The Office to watch, so that's a comfort, otherwise, I'd be starting work. I've been less awake than this during interviews I've given. Jet-lag is always worse for me when I fly eastwards. Getting to Tokyo was weird, but ok (it's always a little weird getting to Tokyo...), coming home is trippy. My body thinks it's 7:30PM. Yay! Well, at least I got my taxes done.... and I ate all the green tea kit-kats I bought at the airport. There's tons of green tea candy and ice cream and cookies in 7/11's over there. And green tea is non-fattening and good for you, right?
On the flight home Matt and I prayed and prayed and arrived at the airport early (Which, I think was the deciding factor) and got our upgrades. With a little more finagling we all sat in row together. The first thing we did on the plane was open our laptops and start watching the latest episode of Grey's Anatomy we'd downloaded from the night before. I can only imagine that the people in the rows behind us in coach were giving us evils. I would have been. Three men, watching the same TV episode, only seconds apart on three different computers? In a certain light it's a charming eccentricity, in another, an annoying affectation. I guess it all depends upon whether or not you're sitting in business class at the top of a 13 hour flight or in coach. Thank you St. Hubbins.
This was the scene at the gate in Narita Airport. We were ever so grateful for our upgrades.....
When we got back to JFK a) the escalator to go up towards immigration was broken which I took as a personal slight and symptom of everything that's crappy about the West (Never saw a broken escalator in Japan, not once, not anywhere. Must be because they spend all their money on escalators and infrastructure instead of armies and invasions and a largely cosmetic war on drugs. Truth be told, I was still in a pissy mood even after the flight and 7 hours sleep and kind of looking for a fight), b) in the immigration hall the lines were long and to "entertain" people there were TV's showing CNN. For the entire 25 minutes we were in line CNN was reviewing the Anna Nicole Smith story. Did I miss something? We've been gone over a week and this is still on the news? I get it; she had a tragic life and she was abused by almost everyone around her from what I can tell, but really? It's that newsworthy....? There's nothing else CNN should be covering except from the death of an-ex pin-up and the feeding frenzy for her money? Got to love America, all this freedom to talk about important things, like ex-nude models dying. We were glad to be back; loving our freedoms. We felt like freedom lovers right there, in that immigration hall. Yes, we did. I read my 87 emails instead and listened to my phone messages. The "man" was telling people to not use their cellphones but my earpiece was covered by my wiggy hair and I got all my messages right there, under the man's nose. That's right - fighting the power....
Btw, recommended read: Empire of Signs by Roland Barthes - if only for the chapters on Chopsticks and Bowing. Slightly fetishised view of the culture, but he is an expert on semiotics so that's okay, then...
I never really have any regrets about coming back home to New York, but I am always sad to leave Japan. I have only ever been treated very well over there, even if, on occassion, some of the beating-around-the-bushness of things gets a little wearing, I've noticed that over the last 10 years or so it's become more relaxed although people over there are still very solicitous. And when it comes to good manners, I'm not cheap I'm free.
Anyway, just to make things worse, I realised I'd missed this gig while I was out there. And no, I don't mean Neko Case at Lincoln Centre, I mean Steven Seagal and Thunderbox in Nottingham. See? Definitely no God. Or one with a sneaky sense of humor...otherwise how else can you explain this cruely comic timing?
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