more more more! how do you like it? how do you like it?

When will I ever have enough? More more more, it's all I ever want. I want a table saw. I want a clay wheel. I want a pass for the gym. What would happen if I won the lottery? Would I be left feeling more in want than ever before? Does the wanting ever cease? I'm afraid it wouldn't.
It's amazing to me to watch TV and see what people who DO have money spend it on. Huge houses with spas, pools, bowling alleys, theatres; millions of pairs of shoes; wardrobes that could clothe thousands; big, shiny, monsters of cars....and yet they don't seem to be happier than me.

In fact, as I watch them on tv and see them in magazines I'm convinced that I'm actually much happier than them. What damage the riches don't do, fame does.

I would HATE to be famous. No, really. I understand the lure of the lights on your face, people loving you for no apparent reason, being treated like royalty, but in my mind, no amount of fuzzy toilet seats and fan mail could make me trade my ability to walk through a crowd anonymously. I silently squeal with glee as people don't look at me; as they don't watch as I pass; as I walk unnoticed. What could be better?

Life in Japan as a "foreigner" was much like what I imagine fame to be like, though on a slightly smaller scale. We didn't exactly have crowds screaming at us as we walked through the street (heaven forbid, no). It more resembled life as a local star - a musician who's played in every venue in her city but who hasn't forged beyond the walls of her hometown.

I think the first significant thing I noticed was the staring. I never knew how many different ways of staring there are. In fact, staring in Japan was like art - everyone had their own unique way to do it. Let me outline a few of the methods that I took great delight in:















1. The sly-walking-by-stare: This involves great eye agility. The passer by wants you to think they're not watching you, and tries to watch you with an unswerving stare as they walk by. The trick is not to turn their head, but turn their eyes. At about the point of the 35 degree angle, things start looking a little uncomfortable as their eyes hit that point at which looking sideways becomes painful. The best part about it is it seems they think that if they don't turn their head, you can't tell they're looking.....

2. The sunglasses stare: This one is tricky, because you can't see their eyes. It becomes apparent, however, that they're looking at you when they stop what they're doing and just sit like a statue as you walk by. Tricky, but not tricky enough for me!

3. The full-on stare: This stare was one that really bothered me. It involved staring as if one was staring at an alien. A fixed eye to eye contact was the beginning, followed by a mouth dropping open a little, and the head tilting ever so slightly.

4. The "I'm sleeping" stare: This one is the most humiliating stare (for the starer) if caught. Often occurring on trains and busses, the starer poses as if asleep until the foreigner looks in another direction, at which point the starer (>ping!<) opens his eyes! As soon as the foreigner looks back, of course, the eyes (>shewp!<) shut and BAM! He's asleep again. Tricky....until you CATCH 'EM!!!

There are many more stares, but I can hardly sit here all night, eh? Good old Japan, land of old shrines and 7-11s. Land of a kind, gentle people and very stinky monkeys. A very different place from here...