urban dream

this is my shadow trying to reach a Koi in one of the ponds around the Meiji Shrine. the Shrine is located in a quite sizable forest in the middle of Tokyo -although it's hard to say that Tokyo has a middle-. the forest is reminiscent of central park in New York for it's stark contrast with the throbbing cityscape.

after spending a few days in japan coming back to Los Angeles is like visiting a city dreamed by an idiot. it seems mostly grey, senseless and unpleasant. the cars are too big, the streets are too wide and there are not enough trains. i blame the severe jetlag for feeling like i'm having a bad dream. and i'm being unfair by talking about L.A. when i'm really trying to describe Tokyo. but right now i'm a being between time zones, and hence i'm trying to reach for something while i exist merely on the surface.

it's the arrogance of comparing distant cities without having experienced the thousands of miles of land and/or ocean between them. the conceit born of high speed travel. and of course the innocent illusion of the first date (this was my first visit to japan). because i couldn't write a similar metaphor about Tokyo with the same confidence, the image doesn't come so easy to me, it comes as question: Tokyo, what or who dreamed your existence?

was it disaster (war, earthquakes, floods, cholera, gojira, fires), was it isolation, were you dreamed by extreme density, power, were you dreamed by the world's economy, were you dreamed by the river that meets the ocean? were you dreamed by a dragon or a carp?

i don't know, maybe i should ask the same question to this, my L.A, just to be fair. but Tokyo, i'm sure i want to dream about you again.