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Shinjuku’s Don Quixote store, Sunday evening, 2:43am.

D. [handing in massive set of fireworks]: We’ll take these.

Cashier [in a bored monotonous tone]: Please remember that by Tokyo law you are not allowed to fire these in the middle of residential urban areas. Also please do not use late at night where it might disturb the peace.

D. & H. [as one person]: OF COURSE!

D. [to H.]: Oh… do we have any lighter?

H.: I don’t, do you?

D. [to cashier]: Do you sell lighters by any chance?

Cashier: Over there.

D. [grabbing one]: Great. We’ll also take this. Kthanx.

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Every year I have a moment of panic upon realising I totally let Mother’s Day slip by…

And then I remember that Mother’s Day in the US falls two weeks before France’s (in such matters, I go with most recent country of residence).

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Walking home in the morning, cursing the pre-monsoon rain that forces you to spend all 30 minutes of the way back, hunched under a cheap plastic umbrella, suddenly hearing a loud thump above the noise of rain falling, lifting your head up and noticing that some bird just plopped all over your umbrella; a bird that, judging by the radioactive hue of the goop dripping from all sides, had some serious digestive problems…

And then realising that, at this very moment, your life could be much shittier.

Literally.

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Currently, they still oscillate between Nobel Prize and two Advils.

Seriously: who goes out until morning on a Monday night? More to the point: who goes to work the day after, on a national holiday?

A sucker, that’s who.

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Albert Hofman, discoverer of the lysergic acid diethylamide compound (better known under its initials) and advocate of a mature, non-repressive approach to psychedelic drug experimentation, died this week at the age of 102.

Yet another tragic example of a young life cut short by the evils of drugs.

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Because I just don’t use this blog enough for my own self-serving interests (please ignore all 1,182 past entries full of pointless navel-gazing, when considering this statement), I thought I’d post a short blurb here regarding my quest for some living quarters in Tokyo for the Summer:

I am looking for rooming options (sublet/flat-sharing/nice-blue-tarp-in-Yoyogi…) in Tokyo, involving some amount of pre-furnishing (the more the better), starting roughly now and until mid-September.

Location-wise: anything within reasonable distance of a subway/train station is eligible for consideration. Bonus points for biking distance (less than 30 mins.) to Shinjuku/Shibuya or other West-Tokyo hubs, Extra Bonus points for quick access to my work in Jimbocho (no more than one change is a must, but that’s pretty much 80% of all Tokyo stations).

Situation-wise: as long as your homicidal schizophrenia is medicated and your pet hyena on a leash, we can negotiate on the rest. I guess a bit of common sense and mutual respect (if it’s a flat-sharing arrangement) would probably help too. As for me: I am fairly easy-going, social but way past my teenage party-animal days, gainfully employed during the day and possibly less annoying in person than this page may lead one to think.
Also: I don’t smoke, bathe daily and can probably relinquish my meat-eater’s morning bacon addiction for the perfect place. Furthermore, my mastering of weather-conversational Japanese and world-renowned trash-sorting abilities should make me a hit with all your nosy obāchan neighbours/landlord.

Money-wise: I can afford market-rate on any of the aforementioned options, but since it is money coming from my own pocket, I’d just as well not go for those laughably overpriced expat dwellings. 120k seems a fair upper-bound given my search criteria (that’s an upper-bound, and definitely not what I’ll be paying for a 2-tatami flatmate option in Saitama).

Best way to contact me is by email, to zedrdave[at]gmail.com. Feel free to pass this on to your friends.