The sound the crickets make is different here. Handfans and neckfans everywhere. Towels worn in many styles around the head to wipe the sweat. Neatly on the shoulders to full on ninja mask.

Only saw one tag today. That read ‘SOLO’. The sole graffiti writer in a metropole of 30 million. Must be lonely.. Later a couple more though. When the streets are almost too clean. Buildings well painted. Looking down for gems on the pavement is a difficult task. My friend who is also good at looking down told me her little brother, as a kid, scraped of old pieces of chewing gum off the street and wanted to put them in his mouth. Reuse them. Their parents would only allow the first part. My ex girlfriend, also as a kid, would feel very sad for the pieces of trash if they had to be thrown. She would sneak to the bin, take them out and hide them under the bed. When her parents found out about her hiding place, they started checking it. So she hid the stuff under her parents bed. Everything is alive. Kind of a shinto view. What do other things then our own species like? And how do they want to be treated?

Reminded by a random instagram post I reread a note “knowing/ experiencing the opposite is a way to know that thing. Both form a whole. So if you often encounter a certain thing you don’t like in your life, through that you will learn the opposite. Which is probably important to you. Both sides make the whole.”

Drew a fortune today at the temple. No. 69: Bad Fortune.. Luckily I was able to leave it there. Covered in holy smoke that cures all ailments. Threw two coins. Lit a candle for my aunt.

Sitting on a ledge of a planter in front of a metal tori gate I felt like a statue, a sweating statue. Statues I’ve seen today: Drooling boar, with live water running out of it’s mouth, pointing samurai, frog and tortoise, thundergod, windgod, buddhas, large stone lantern.

I walk back past gambling houses and flower stores. Whiffs of AC when I pass the shops and restaurants. If you would make a prayer of thanks for the end of this day, mine would include: ‘Thanks for towels and cold glasses from the freezer. Thanks for the rising sun.’

The cleanliness is nice, but also makes kinda weary. Like people with white clothes without stains. Thinking about the beauty of trash and decay, life, I was happy to finally see a cockroach in the evening.

‘Thanks for towels and cold glasses from the freezer. Thanks for the rising sun and the cockroach that comes out at night.’