Pulse

I am a pretty big fan of working from home. But I am accumulating that “I need to get out more” feeling. S and I have gotten into our routines. And going out is generally not in that routine. A lot available to us in Tokyo, but huge crowds are also included in that “a lot”. It’s a huge amount of energy to wade through it. You end up tuning out while going through it. I want to avoid tuning out things as much as possible.

The weather is getting warmer. Cherry blossoms have come and gone. This week has been on-and-off rain, but with just the right temperature where you can go out without long sleeves and you’re not sweating by the end of it. After dinner I took a long walk. Put on a podcast and just picked a direction. Ended up walking for an hour or so. Not really listening to the podcast, not really paying attention to where I was going. Looking at the variations of houses; the not-christmas-christmas lights. Occasionally wading my way through the smell of sesame oil cooking. I start seeing more and more people. A constant trickle of people making their way home. I figured I was approaching my station or the next one over¹. Going against the flow of people I make my way through the shopping street that leads to the (next-over) station. An area I’ve walked several times during the day, but never made my way over in the evening. Shops that I haven’t seen open are busy with people eating and laughing. A woman in typical Japanese work suit on her way home getting surprised when her coworker taps her on the arm. Every time I have gone down this shopping street has always been during the day on a weekend. This is actually the least amount of people I have seen the street. But some how felt much more… alive. As if I am finally below the threshold with number of people. Not tuning out everything. It’s like finding a new spot on your arm where you can feel your pulse. It’s always been there, just unnoticed.

Yeah, I need to get out more. Especially, before summer hits. That heat drains the heck out of me.

Oh, when you think to say: “today’s weather is good” what’s included in that statement? I found I typically include the temperature itself. Good amount of sunlight. Maybe if it’s too humid I probably wouldn’t say it. But found some people here in Japan will use “good weather” just to mean “clear skies”. So it’s “today is good weather, but it’s windy” or “but it’s hot”. The qualifiers are added. I am sure it could even be different within the same language/culture. I thought it was a fun mundane language difference.