Today we had a slow day. I took care of some work things today and we contacted our realtor Akiko as we had sent her a fax last Saturday to put a hold on an apartment, but had never heard whether she had actually received it.
We also had our first rain. There is a typhoon circling its way ominously towards Japan, and the rain showers we had today are a precursor to what is to come, which could be much worse. Although it rained only briefly, it was a true tropical rainstorm, with the rain coming down in sheets; all the rainpipes were spouting water.
I took the children to the children’s castle again, and then went on to shop for batteries for my Japanese camera which I have been unable to find in the convenience stores, the photo-development shops, the grocery stores and in many other stores I tried in the neighborhood. But Shibuya must have it, I figured. Shibuya station is one of the busier ones in Tokyo, and busy in Tokyo means seriously busy. Across from the station in Shibuya is a shopping center, which is so intense with the noise from different shops, the people trying to hand you slips of paper, the massive television screens mounted on the buildings and above all with the mass of people going every which way that it is quite overwhelming. When I was there with the children a few days ago, we were on the opposite side of the street from Shibuya station and witnessed on the other side of the pedestrian crossing a solid line of people coming out of the station armed with briefcases and shopping bags getting ready to cross the street (those who jaywalk in Japan are usually foreigners), I think there must have been at least a hundred people standing side by side, and a solid mass of people behind them. It was a frightening site, and Saskia urged me to get out of the way, as she was sure that we would get trampled if we stayed where we were (I completely understood her fear, but one need not be afraid in the least, Tokyo’s pedestrians are the most socially alert people on earth and will always avoid collisions). I found a discount camera store and found the batteries.
When we picked up the children in the afternoon, we went for a walk to Harajuku station and to the Yoyogi park which is where the famous Meiji shrine is, so close to where we are, and yet not visited. Harajuku station is where a lot of young people (mostly young women) come to gather in outlandish clothing (they look like they are about to participate in some costume drama) and wild make-up. Today they all wore black eyeshadow and mostly black clothes, the eye shadow was liberally applied and many of the women looked like Nina Hagen or as if they had been just made up to play in the musical cats. We walked a good distance towards the shrine, but it was getting late and it was musquito time so we never made it. I guess there is still time.
On the way back we went through the street where the young people from Harajuku must buy their outfits. It was a very busy street and as we had just purchased an icecream to encourage the children to walk home and Lukas was unable to focus on the people avoidance task necessary to make headway while licking his ‘combo’ icecream (vanilla and chocolat) I told him to follow me closely while eating his icecream. It worked remarkably well. We dropped the children at the playground that they frequent and I went to the ‘Peacock’ store while R started the preparations for dinner. When I got home Pascale was in the shower. Apparently she had to go to the bathroom so badly that she went in the park. And we are not talking number one either. Now this is a park of about 7 yards by 20 yards, so it is not exactly big and there are not corners that offer any privacy. Moreover, it is right behind our apartment and in the middle of a residential area. No, let me rephrase that. It is right in the middle of a bunch of say 6-8 story apartment buildings. She was adamant however that nobody had seen her, as the one man that was also in the playground (probably eating dinner) had been shielded from view by Lukas, who had stood in front of her…. Saskia had helped her dig a hole, and they had covered it up, so it was all taken care of. Horrified fearing expulsion from the country or at least prefecture R made me go back with three plastic bags and a yogurt container and Pascale as a guide. I was pleased to find things relatively well disguised and did not feel the need to start digging, especially since there were several men in the park at this time.
9:48:27 PM 
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