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Broadcasting to an audience of three (and a goldfish)...
Comment, ramblings and musings... life through the eyes of a Japanologist...
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Saturday, March 23, 2002 |
 In contrast to the sky, though, the sea this afternoon was a vivid, Gokurakutombo-sake-cup aquamarine as it became deeper, inviting diving, floating, drifting. That such outrageously vivid, Mediterranean sea should be so gentle is almost a contradiction, I think; such vital colour really should belong to something with more vigour than the bay had this afternoon. Only the occasional wisp of silver and the ripples made their half-hearted attempts to graduate to waves hinted at anything other than somnolence.
Indeed, this would be a day to graduate. Far better than the shiranami whitecaps of Thursday. Today would have proclaimed a calm sea and smooth voyage- which is all that anyone connected with the sea could hope for, I should imagine. In this, in our realisation that in setting to sea we are placing ourselves at the mercy of a force able perhaps to be propitiated, but ultimately unconquerable, not that much separates us from the unknown seafarer who left the mirror here in Heian times, after all...
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After the event had finished, we agreed to meet at Gokurakutombo for an uchiage- any excuse for a drink. I came back and posted the previous entry, but then I found myself with twenty minutes or so on my hands before the izakaya opened, so I went for a stroll around Enokuchi, basking in the spring sunshine after being stuck inside since lunchtime.
I love spring weather here in Washibe. There's a laid-back, winter's-over feeling that one can almost reach out and grasp. Weather like today's seems to soften sound, so that even the gulls dip and swoop silently, more gracefully than usual. The only sounds were the shouts of some junior boys playing football (odd how almost everything they shouted was English), and the soft susurrations of the waves as they uncurled leisurely against the sea-wall. Even the sky itself was soft; a kindly blue, the blue of freshly laundered bedsheets or of soft bathtowels.
I think that various weather is suited to various things. A winter night of howling wind and lashing rain is suited to curling up with a good book and a generous tumbler of whisky, for example. But if this is so, then today- the most sure evidence of spring's arrival yet, I think- must be a day for nothing more than basking in the sheer indolent pleasure of being.
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Well, it turned out I needn't have worried- the karaoke competition went off excellently. The Japanese people seemed to have no inhibitions- I think everyone sang more than once- and the five AETs I invited as judges really entered into the spirit of things. All in all, a success, I think!
The run-up to an International Club event might be stressful, but this is more than made up for by the wonderful feeling of release after the event has finished. It's like the end of Finals- except that Finals didn't happen once every month or so...
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So much for the weekend.
Both today and tomorrow I have to work. Today is the International Club's English Karaoke Competition. I have my doubts about this event- but given that we've come to this point, there's nothing to be done. We'll just have to see what happens.
I'm sure that I shouldn't feel as nervous as I always do before an International Club event. I suppose that it's because the final responsibility for the whole event rests on my head; the success or failure is primarity dependent on my planning. I don't think I'd want things to be any other way- but nevertheless sometimes I wonder whether it might not be good to be able to pass the buck just a little, every now and again...
Oh well, ittekimasu!
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Picked up the photos of the warships leaving Etajima Bay. I'll scan them in at work either tomorrow or on Monday, and post them on my Japan photos website. (Actually, in Japanese this site is called 'Japan as seen by a digital camera', but I think we can bend the rules just a bit this time...)
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© Copyright 2003 Nathan Duckworth.
Updated: 8/1/03; 7:45:49 pm.
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