Working More Living Less

creative — adjective
1. having the quality or power of creating.
2. resulting from originality of thought, expression, etc.; imaginative: creative writing.
3. originative; productive (usually followed by of).
4. Facetious. using or creating exaggerated or skewed data, information, etc.: creative bookkeeping.

At the moment I’m looking down the barrel of three back-to-back six days weeks, which will not be a huge amount of fun and definitely won’t give me a lot of time to get out and see Tokyo that much. It’s a bit grieving to go from being a relative important member of a small team to essentially another minion in the wheel of education but I’m trying to keep my chin up and see the funny side as much as possible. When I find a funny side, I’ll be sure to let you know, dear reader. Whomever may be reading this.

On the subject of creativity I am finding some time to sketch, at least ideas and the like, but unfortunately the time spent drawing from life and generally working to improve qualities like drawing are limited, if not non-existent. I need to have some time to work on these things and at the same time I’m still keen to get out and see as much of Tokyo as is generally considered possible. It’s a tricky balancing act and one that I have yet to master I think. It’s too hard to work when I get home from school, I’m just too tired and have yet to master the knack of getting up early. Sometimes I can manage it, sometimes I just spend too long lounging in bed. Writing more and drawing more. Way forward.

Actually a job I can do were I can be creative is really what I’m seeking, more than anything else. A job which is fun, a job where I can create new things and produce things that tell the stories and dreams that I want to tell. A job where I’m working with people that have the same kind of ideals and are working towards the same kind of things. Being able to get up every morning and breathe new life into something would be so fantastic. Creativity is what I thrive on, it’s the times when I’m happiest – although I realise that I have to be more thick-skinned about the things that I work on as they will be shot down time and time again. It’s one of the things I think I would find hardest is pitching, and creating successful pitches at that.

In the near future I also hope to create some more art, I’m trying to move towards a point where I can start creating something that I actually own, rather than the situation I find myself in at the moment, in that I’m doing work that I do really like, and that I think is decent and interesting, but I can’t go about selling it because it uses a lot of stock. Maybe I can do some footwork in that direction and try and get releases to sell things. Anything that brings in a little money is a good thing I think.

Time to get some of that sleep. Good night from Tokyo.

Twenty six years

It’s my birthday – on this day, twenty-six years ago, I came into the world pink and screaming and new, a burden on my parents that I think I have never really repaid. It’s been an interesting time, growing up, I think that I still have an awful lot to do.

Part of Japan for me, a big part of coming here, is living by myself, without relying on my parents or my family to help me the way they have in the past. Even when I was at university and living away from home it was never really like surviving and living a real independent life.

Even if times get hard here I don’t want to have to ask my parents for anything.

I’m twenty-six. I’ve been on this Earth now over a quarter of a century. Yes, that’s still kind of young – but it’s not that young any more. More time spent on the things that I want to be good at, less time spent faffing around with distractions. It’s not like I’m swearing off things like Facebook and the other pursuits that I have online, but I really think it’s time to put down the webpage and move towards doing much more drawing, much more writing, much more of the things that I hope will provide me with a future.

Look up look up higher
And see
Its not as hard as you figured it would be
Now two tons, two tons lighter
Agreed
If it’s alright with you it’s alright with me

Smarter Primate

Maybe it’s the warmer climate
Maybe I’m a smarter primate
Maybe it’s the beer I’m drinking
Maybe I’ve stopped over-thinking.

For a country that has such absurdly complicated recycling laws – separate this, only put this out on the second Tuesday of the month unless it’s raining, this stuff can’t go with that stuff, if you put this out on the wrong day people will get upset – they certainly seem to generate quite staggering quantities of junk mail here. Every time I come back from another day on the treadmill, there’s something else stuffed into my letterbox, usually an advert for fast food I would be quite incapable of ordering, even if I wanted the damn thing. As it is, it seems merely provided as one more thing that must be found a home in the seemingly never-ending search for the perfect recycling system.

Everybody asks about the weather in Japan when they e-mail me, so here’s the latest on the weather situation – it’s really just like the UK, with the thermostat cranked up a bit. Having arrived in Tokyo right at the end of the hot season, and being plunged into the rainy season when the first typhoon I’ve ever experience blew through a little while ago, I can say from limited experience that when it’s hot it’s humid, and that makes it worse. When it rains, it’s warm, and it’s a relief. When it’s cold, it’s quite refreshing, and that’s rather nice. It was yet to be cold and wet although I’m sure that particular weather will be along soon. And that really is the weather in Japan, from beginning to end. Apparently the colours here in autumn are amazing and I’m looking forward to getting up to one of the national parks and having a look around.

Actually what this part of Japan reminds me of most are memories all drawn from holidays in the south of France.

There’s a certain quality to the hills and the countryside that reminds me of my grandparent’s house, with the same immense cliffs and staggering mountainous views that you find in their area – notice I’m hedging my words as I can’t actually remember exactly where this is. But that’s the sense that I get when I’m on the train, winding its way to its destination, looking out the window at the passing fields and the distant swelling hills and the mountains beyond, all dressed in green for summer. It’s a stunningly beautiful place sometimes. I stepped onto the walkway outside my flat one morning and stood in awe of the mountains that surround where I live, the cloud feathering and shredding across their summits as it swoops in from the ocean.

Being here is amazing, and I’m starting to learn a little (a very little) Japanese, to start to feel a little more comfortable, although I don’t think this place will ever feel like home. So far the things that I’ve enjoyed have been spending time looking at Tokyo and experiencing Tokyo, far more than I’ve enjoyed any of the teaching. I know already that teaching long-term is not for me. The pencil and the keyboard are a-calling me, and I shall put my time into writing and drawing and see what I can make of myself.

Baby you’re the words and chapters
The sweetness in the morning after
You are the cry that turns to laughter
You’re the hope that ends disaster

Occasional musings

zest
1. Enthusiasm.
2. The outer skin of a citrus fruit, used as a flavouring.

It's strange to be confronted with such an odd land, and the newness of everything can be a little overwhelming. A little like the blankness of the white box that I'm writing this blog into. Who wants to know about my language difficulties, and the fact I always feel like a stupid white man with his phrasebook, struggling to be polite and add a little more than the simple arigato that I seem to punctuate any kind of discussion with – that and hai, which I probably use far more than I should. The landscapes here are amazing though, and I try to take the opportunity to look at them as often as I can. The soft shapes of the forested mountains and the juxtaposition of geometric shapes when you look at a city really are equally beautiful, in different ways.

I've discovered a chain bookshop that has an English language section, and picked up a copy of Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Ablom, which will be a good read from the skimming I gave it on the train on the way home. It's not normally a book I would consider reading but with the rather more limited selection than normal it's almost refreshing to break away from the titles I would usually purchase.

There have been a few earthquakes recently, including a relatively large one that shook the flat and woke me up at two in the morning – scary in that I didn't know what to do, whether I should leave the flat, whether I should just go back to sleep. As I'm writing it occurs to me that it might be a good idea to check what I should do in the event of a massive earthquake. In the cupboard of the flat there's a rope ladder, presumably so I can fling it out of my window should the Big One hit. The smaller earthquakes are almost stranger – the very slight rocking that you have trouble realising are not just in your head.

I have done little writing yet, but some more drawing and so on. I'm fighting for the enthusiasm to get up and get my life going in the direction I want, rather than sitting back and going with the flow. Already in this book I bought have I found a quote that I rather like.

"Have I told you about the tension of opposites?" he says.
The tension of opposites?
"Life is a series of pulls back and forth. You want to do one thing, but you are bound to do something else. Something hurts you, yet you know it shouldn't. You take certain things for granted, even when you know you should never take anything for granted.
"A tension of opposites, like a pull on a rubber band. And most of us live somewhere in the middle."
Sounds like a wrestling match, I say.
"A wrestling match." He laughs, "Yes, I suppose you could describe life that way."
So which side wins, I ask?
"Which side wins?"
He smiles at me, the crinkled eyes, the crooked teeth.
"Love wins. Love always wins."