Ja ne, Kristin!

It’s been over a month since I last sat down to write anything cohesive about recent goings-on. It’s strange, but my life here has actually become quite mundane. Maybe it’s the symptoms of winter steadily plaguing my sluggish town, but I’ve been feeling pretty uninspired lately. I haven’t written anything in months, aside from the handful of jejune grad-school essays (which are completed and finally booted across the pacific).

Kristin left yesterday after a month-long stint in Nagahama. We cooked some incredible meals together and explored Japan as much as possible (though it rained for four weeks straight, and even now it is still raining). We spent her last weekend in Japan hanging out in Osaka, where we crashed with our Ohio-friend Maisie, although she too is only squatting in a cozy apartment in one of the most devastated areas of Japan I’ve ever experienced. I spent Sunday morning wandering the neighborhood (Nishinari) alone, feeling pretty glum about the local quality of life. On the upside, however, we met plenty of friendly stray cats that day as well as a sweet old Japanese couple with a hyper Yorkie named Milli. (That was outside Osaka Castle, which was pretty majestic--although we didn’t pony up the 600 yen to go inside.)

After Kristin’s departure, I sat with Maisie and drank three mugs of hot chocolate before heading back to my wintry city. It was a strange weekend: Osaka’s a massive, chaotic place full of life, but whenever I’m there I feel terribly depressed. I guess it has something to do with the unreasonable juxtaposition of the obscenely downtrodden with the absurdly rich. This phenomenon makes Osaka a difficult city to enjoy, although it’s clearly a unique, creative, happening place. I just can’t fathom spending thousands of yen on shit in Shinsaibashi while the residents of Nishinari are living in tents off the side of the road.

Anyway, here are some hopeful photos of Shiga from Kristin’s stay:







2 Comments for this Entry

Ryan
weird, when i booked my flight Orbitz's description of Osaka was "an unreasonable juxtaposition of obscenely downtrodden and absurdly rich" too... :)
Friday, December 15, 2006 - 02:27 AM

me
Did I steal that?
Friday, December 15, 2006 - 07:51 AM