Scouting out new territory.

These walks I've been going on have been getting more and more expansive. It's not that I'm walking to extraordinarily distant locations, no, no that's not it at all, in fact, if I compare my walks to those my father takes daily they're probably hardly anything to mention, although I haven't marked any sort of distance at all. I just walk and wander and see and stop and look... well, there is a process generally. I think I'll try to talk about that in context of my walk today. Because today was an extraordinarily typical walk for me.

I started out with a very clear goal of where I need to go and what I need to accomplish with this walk. But I hardly make a beeline to my goal. The normal Japanese person, in attemptingwhat I did, would have instead taken a train or two and a short walk. What I did instead was take a look at a map, looked at it in terms of larger locations, landmarks, etc that would aid in navigation, then set out. My first stop was a bread store I've stopped at a number of times now, they have delicious breads, and it makes a good walking breakfast. I eat one of them immediately and set out in the general direction of my destination, which today happened to be shimo-kitazawa. I need an alien registration card so I can get a cellphone among other things.

Oh, mosquito... it's so tiny... and trying to snack on my thumb. Squish. This reminds me of another topic I need to address sometime.. the japanese and spiders. Look forward to it.

So, back to topic, I actually took the first leg of my walking trip to Shibuya the other day. From there I started walking up a large road. It wasn't long before I came across an expansive Japanese wall surrounding a grounds containing a building with a traditional style roof. I immediately diverted from my path to investigate. It was a Buddhist temple, one undergoing some renovation, so I didn't take any pictures, I stood and read about a canal that had been developed and turned into an underground canal at the location and moved on. Perhaps a few times on any given walk I'll come across something like this that catches my eye, or I look down a tiny street cluttered with shops and suddenly divert down to take a look. Doing things like this has made my walks about Setagaya-ku and beyond quite entertaining. Now, another part of all this comes when I'm done in one particular diversion. About at the part where I get to the other side of that shopping district and take a guess as to which way it is to my destination. It's a fun way to find new routes. Today was especially so because of what I did after I reached kitazawa's town hall.

As it turns out, that's not the place I need to go to get my registration card initially. I really had to go to another place.. that's a couple blocks away from my apartment. One that now that it's been pointed out to me, I realize I've passed by it once or twice before. Heh heh.. he... hehhehhehheh...

But that's just the start! I walked out and went down a couple of the young people's shimo-kitazawa town. (that's literally what's marked on a map I saw.. I should've taken a picture)

There's.. too much to even start on. It's like a huge outdoor shopping zone. I passed by at least 8 bookstores, I stopped into a record shop where this guy behind the counter started djing a bit (have you seen the record shop in Faking it where the cellist becomes a dj? Amazing how the record store looked so similar. Or maybe I'm remembering a different televised record store. So much vinyl.)

The streets there are so random it's hard to keep a solid bead on direction in the middle of the day... I exited the street with a clear understanding of how to return the way I came, but my directions had been moved 90 degrees. I started walking in the direction of my next objective, and you can imagine my surprise when I started walking on a particular street... and recognized it from my walk to shibuya after about a block! I turned off it immediately after.

I found a very nice park in that wandering that I had to stop in, I read a chapter of a book on a bench and walked around, it's a nice park. But then we come to where I am now.

That's right. 東大 - TouDai. (Tokyo University, one of the most, if not the most prestigious university in Japan) And what's the first thing to happen on the campus of this prestigious and beautiful campus? I'm asked if I'm a teacher. Hold on a minute while I process this. In fact, the rest of this will just have to wait for the end of my walk.

I love my netbook. So convenient for just sitting and writing anywhere. I've gotten a suggestion from my good friend Jeff tonight that perhaps I should attempt to seek employ at TouDai. I hesitate, but perhaps if they had something available. There certainly was delicious peach drink at the co-op store... yum.

No more job responses today, but I feel confident that once I can get an interview, I can get a job.