hello, tokyo!

this weekend:







































































































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i am alternately so excited to get out of this country (34 days of class left, and i bought some soy milk today with an expiration date that's after i leave (!) ) and filled with a vague kind of longing, a premature nostalgia... probably because i've been here so long (sort of) and don't feel like i know much the country or the culture and, god knows, the language. i feel like i've wasted a lot of time here, but i also don't know what i would've/could've done differently to feel otherwise.

also, for whatever else the john lennon museum ("john lennon" trademark of yoko ono lennon) may be, at least i got to see the yellow suit he wore for the sgt. pepper album. (adolescent squeal of unquestioned, spontaneous !joy!joy!joy!) hehe, it still makes my heart flip a little think about it: i saw, in the real live 'flesh,' a suit from sgt. pepper! sumo, be damned.
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and john lennon in geta. nice.

harajuku just before sunset and a girl in a panda suit and a sign (written in english) advertising 'free hugs' and young smokers with red and blonde hair slouched against a wall while two guitarists play j-pop acapella and a man creates several variations on the theme of anpanman using balloon animal art and a blimp flies overhead.

and:







(sign in shinjuku shoe store. ... a little blurry, but i think the message still gets across)


and, really, what else needs to be said?

world peace, indeed...


also, i guess, one more: apropos to nothing, i think i've figured out one answer to what songs would be on the soundtrack of my life:

it's not world peace, but it makes me feel better, anyway.