My weltschmerz and the hours

I went to Himakajima yesterday. That's Octopus island for those of you who can't even read Japanese. Honestly. Get with the program.

It was alright but most of the island looks just like the rest of Japan. Tiny houses inhabited by tiny people with even tinier children, all of them pretending that they're not staring at me when I walk by.

The water was nice and I finally got a chance to go swimming. Kelp still scares the bejesus out of me. Its something I don't think I'll ever get over. There are two beach areas on the island (east and west) and from the east side you can see other islands off in the distance and its actually quite beautiful. I would have taken pictures but the battery in my camera was dead and I wasn't willing to wait around for it. Sorry guys.

I stopped a group of four women to ask for directions in my indechiperable Japanese. The woman closest to me when I said 'sumimasen' actually shrieked out loud and ran behind one of the others. After I calmed them down by explaining what I needed, one of the other women indiscreetly backed up and took a picture of me. I felt like Finbar McBride must have felt in The Station Agent. Yeah. That's pretty obscure but if you know it, appropriate.

I got lunch on the island and it was fucking delicious. The restaurant had six fish tanks, each large enough for me to lay down inside of, filled with so many different kinds of fish that the place felt more like an aquarium than a restaurant. I made friends with a doomed ray that was like 2 feet wide. I got the 'ranchi seto' (lunch set) and had an eight-dish spead placed before me for under $10. I was happily eating from this little bowl of what I thought was salty noodles, until I looked closely and found that the noodles were actually tiny fish. The heads were still attached and only the tails removed, but they were so small and unassuming that there wasn't a noticable change in texture, even for the tiny eyeballs. They were quite good. You always have to be paying attention though.

I finished King Lear in a cafe on the way home and then went to a bar with my roommates at around 10.

Hey mama, (something) that thing that makes you go (something something...) blah blah blah... I hate the music in this place.