Ragged Clown

It's just a shadow you're seeing that he's chasing…


This side of Nagasaki (day 4)

February
2008

Customer meeting in the morning on the 25th floor of the most incredible office building. We sat in big leather arm chairs in a room also from the pages of Zen Homes and Gardens (Business Edition). There was a courtyard out the window with four or five bonsai trees of various varieties and a combined age of about 1000 years.

bonsaiMy dad used to make bonsai. I wonder what he did with all his trees; if he took the to Spain with him. Made me want to learn how to do it.

Meeting went well. Very formal with lots of rules and protocol that I tried hard to understand and not to violate. I figured out the bit about receiving a business card with both hands and reading every detail and continue holding it with both hands until the conversation is over. Complicated stuff.

The coffee lady put on quite a show, delivering each cup one by one and, kneeling, presenting it carefully with lots of turning and arranging of spoons. I had one of those moments where I was glad no-one asked me a question because I would have had no clue what they were talking about, I was so engrossed in the coffee lady’s art.

I had the rest of the day off so I did 18 laps of Ginza looking for gifts for my childers. I was looking for dolls or miniatures of their favourite anime characters but didn’t find anything appropriate. I did find an excellent fish market though with lots of sushi in various stages of preparation from swimming around in a tank to huge slabs on ice to beautifully presented on a plate.

I also found a noodle stand – one my goals – during the lunchtime rush hour. Again with the performance and the sizzling and bubbling and splashing of sauces. The two very old chefs worked as a team, with one tossing the noodles and ladling giant portions from enormous cauldrons into 6 enormous bowls at a time while the other carefully applied pieces of meat, vegetables and other bits and pieces.

When the noodles were ready I stood, with all the other customers, on a busy sidewalk and tried to echo their impressive guuuurrrgling and scchhhllleeeurrrping sounds. My wife would have been so proud!