Tokyo Day 3

Merry Freakin' Christmas!

I once got a Christmas card that said that on the inside. The front of the card was a photo of a cat in a Santa hat, and the cat looked distinctly unhappy.

The card was from my mother.

Today is apparently a holiday in Japan. This evening, there will be lots of couples doing a sort of early Valentine's Day. The streets were busy today with people, more so that usual. Must be all that last-minute shopping.

Unsurprisingly, I was exempt from such activity. Instead, I got to walk around by myself in the midst of thousands of people doing things because they would be with other people. Luckily for me, I have no such encumbrances. No (grossly overpriced) romantic dinner for me. Just curry cup noodle and a doughnut, and the Internet. Because that's the way I want it to be, and it's the way I've made it. Besides, I'm literally on the eve of what may be the most memorable Christmas of my life, so I have no qualms about a quiet evening alone.

I spent my day as I usually do, going to Shibuya and Ochanomizu to look at guitars. I saw some nice ones, but I am realizing that I may not be able to find a guitar that suits me here, since Japanese Les Paul copies tend to have slimmer necks. I like large necks, because my hands are big.

The other dilemma is that I found that beat-to-death Greco that's US$400.  But for about $550, I can get a guitar that's in much better shape, and may be a better guitar. Same tobacco sunburst, though.

Then again, most of these guitars were built in the same factory, just for different companies.

But I have time. I am still here for more than a week, so there is no rush.

While trying to leave the Ishibashi music store in Shibuya, I ended up going upstairs into a record store. I have always had nightmares about Japanese CD stores, because I know I could buy more CDs than guitars in there...

But I had a lot of fun for several reasons. The band I used to work for, Jason and the Scorchers, still has a spot in the racks in this place. They didn't have any of their CDs, but it was still nice to see. I forgot to take a picture of their Japanese name, which was on the other side of the card.

One of my favorite bands, The Wildhearts, has always been big in Japan. In fact, I was tickled that I was staying in Akasaka, since I have a Wildhearts bootleg of a performance they did at Akasaka Blitz, which is apparently a venue. I've seen the sign in the train station but have yet to go there. Oh, and it's funny that Jason and the Scorchers are actually one of the Wildhearts' favorite bands! But I was very happy to find quite a few Wildhearts CDs, like the new 3-CD retrospective, The Works:

But I was even happier to find the elusive Japan-Only Riff After Riff After Motherfucking Riff.

To top it all off, there was Anarchic Airwaves, a collection of tracks from "Live at the BBC" appearances:

The Wildhearts: Sweet, loud, hard and crunchy. Like children's cereal without the milk. I wish I could find one of their controversial tour shirts that said " Louder than God and better than fucking" on the back.

I will put them in my MP3 player (no, I don't own an iPod and never will) and tomorrow I will have the perfect soundtrack for guitar shopping: loud guitar music.

But I will return to my room early to begin a protracted (and essentially pointless) grooming exercise in preparation for my Christmas dinner.

Which, I fully concede, puts me on the express bus to hell, right between George Dumbya and anyone who put melamine in baby food.

Just in case... I mean the dinnerwill send me to hell, not the grooming. But never mind.

I think it will be enough work for me to not grin idiotically the entire time I am in the woman's presence. Not so much out of adoration or some delusional assumption that she notices me any more than, say, the salt shaker on the table, but simply because I find the inherent wrongness of it so funny, Well, that and the idea that I thought this thing up and made it happen. It will be nice to be able to think of myself as cooler than most people in Japan, if not the world, for two hours or so. It will be my little gift to me.

I just really hope she likes the chocolates. Without wanting to risk sounding exceedingly pathetic (more than I already do), shedoes

have a nice smile...

While this will strike most of you as grossly out-of-character for me, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I hope you all have a great holiday and get to spend time with whoever you want, for as long as you want, doing whatever you want.

I realize that is in many ways a monstrously plain and unassuming holiday wish, but as I have noted, I don't have much experience at things like holiday (or any other day) cheer.

So have fun tomorrow. I will try my best to do so, although I will be getting a lot of help.

Let's face it, I need it.