My friend Bob in Jiyugaoka (name changed to protect the guilty) goes on a random bike toss once in a while. He goes out front of his house, looks at the “No bicycles” sign, rolls up his sleeves, and starts stacking. Then he gets a cold beer and waits. But, he is protected: his mother-in-law owns the retail/apartment building. I’ll have to see if I can’t help him out one of these days. You’ll know his house because it is the only one you can walk along the central sidewalk back of Jiyugaoka Station.

The ever vigilant Osaki Police Department usually limits itself to posters in banks and ATMs about “suspicious foreigners” and “sneaky” thefts, but they’ve really raised the level of paranoia to a generalized feeling of constant threat with this one. The caution yellow background, angry red lettering, and flaming pupil eyes are really creepy. This poster is in such stark contrast to the usual cute exhortations of safety first, no littering, and be careful that it really makes me wonder.

The fact that the first one I saw was hanging across the street from my apartment made me look over my shoulder just a little bit. Since then, I’ve spotted one pasted to a wall in a quiet side-street on my way to the post office, one on a public bulletin board in front of a small temple, and one sticker on a vending machine around the corner.

Just what is it that somebody is watching for, and who are they? Are they going to tell their mother?

“Fountain of Life” Copyright 2001, Yoshitomo Nara.

The show “Yoshitomo Nara- From the Depth of my Drawer” was worth seeing. You’ve probably seen his hypercephalic knife-clutching little girl on posters, t-shirts, or some other accessory. This show gave more of the background of his typographic faces- parenthetical eyes, colon for a nose, and hyphenated mouth. In particular, one room of his photography and notes gives the references or vocabulary he’s been working and reworking. Interesting to see how a small squiggle in a steno notebook was enlarged to a painting, but is almost verbatim what the felt pen doodle was.

I’m still not sure what I think of his work, but I did appreciate seeing a wider range of paintings. Besides the angry woodland creatures and little girls with pissed off attitudes, Nara’s flying machine paintings are fun. They put me in mind of the kind of toy aeroplanes you used to find in front of supermarkets in the States that would bob up and down for a minute after you dropped in a dime or a quarter.

I do know what I think of the museum. The architecture of the building itself still catches my attention after half a dozen visits. The cafe looking out over the sculpture garden is a good value and a nice place to relax. No more messing around, I’m getting a membership next time.

Don’t get me wrong, Japan has some wonderful old buildings, but so much of the architecture seems provisional- just make do. Staple the new electrical run to the wall. Build your new prefab house out of plastic. Don’t worry what it looks like because a flood, fire, or earthquake might be just around the corner. Besides, nobody will pay good money for an old building anyway. They just want the land and will scrape whatever is on it to start fresh.

Any kind of long trip really does mean that you can’t go home again. Your apartment will probably still be there, but your corner store might not. The old lady who watches everything like a hawk will still be there to scrutinize your comings and goings, but she may soon have a whole throng of new hotel visitors to contend with. Returning to Tokyo is a kind of travel in itself- you never know for sure what you are going to find when you get there.

Let’s hope they put a good restaurant in the ground floor of that hotel. I can’t even remember what used to be there, so it can’t have been very good.