Takeko's air-borne journey (10-6-10)

The sky drops dark early and the cool air breezes through Tokyo’s jungle of high-rise buildings.

Though in step with the arrival of autumn’s climate, the seasonal switchover of clothing came appreciably early this year. Seen here and there around the necks of women were warm scarves; boots were active as if they were swings. All the attire was making a remarkable contrast to that worn in one of the most sweltering summers on record.

Takeko, a female Cavalier, had harbored future visions with her recently-turned, but already ex-, boyfriend. In a casual conversation, Takeko was emphasizing the concept of a family. In the simulation, Takeko was a mother while he was a father. There were two kids. Takeko was a homemaker while he went to work and the kids did to school. All of these pictures ended up in illusions, however. He was yet gone, even when the periodic recurrence of such a dream of Takeko kept afflicting her mind.

Mike sometimes met her when both of them could afford to make time sometime in the p.m. He did so today, the day of the Autumnal Equinox.

An Italian-style restaurant was located near Ryogoku Kokugikan, the traditional stadium for sumo. The weather was bad, as rain was beating the stadium’s green roofs. Nonetheless, the bewitching air spewing from the stadium was powerful enough to cover the entire Ryogoku and color the area to be distinguished. Despite the rain, many foreign visitors wrapped with strips for holding cameras and other electric items were excited to begin moseying around right off the ticket gates of the Ryogoku station.

Inside the restaurant, most of the tables were occupied by customers as today was a public holiday. The square table between Mike and Takeko was covered with a white cloth, yet it reflected orange light which equally provided a sense of warmth to all the customers.

“What would you like, Takeko?” When Mike had to speak up against noisy chit-chat from other tables, his face was effectively hidden under the brim of a cap to avoid confusion after disclosing his celebrity status.

“Are there any dishes for a dog?” said Takeko.

C’mon, Mike grumbled in mind and he ordered the boiled vegetables for a starter, the spaghetti with tomato sauce, a margherita pizza, and a piece of cream-covered cake, assuming that she had a sweet tooth. All these dishes were of course on his treat, as he hoped again that they would help shorten her convalescent period.

After lunch, holding umbrellas and having avoided splashing in the rows of puddles on each sidewalk section, Mike and Takeko arrived at the entrance to the Edo-Tokyo Museum, set in a colossal building that, suspended by four giant legs that extended to the fifth floor, resembled a spacecraft.

The museum showcased historical events that had happened since the beginning of the Edo era (1600~). Two major events, the Great Kanto Earthquake (1923) and the Great Tokyo Air Raid (1945), made for remarkably popular exhibits. Although the visitors partially assimilated with the common touch of Japanese people who lived in each difficult period, as they were not refugees it was not the case that the museum had to rescue them by flying away. [nonsensical]

The whole fifth floor was looked over by people from a balcony on the sixth floor: it was all the universe of darkness bearing down on lit showcases and other things on display. The ceiling was so high that cool convection was allowed to flee from the fifth floor up.

The fifth floor was divided into The Edo Zone and The Tokyo Zone. The former zone was composed of Daily living of bushi, Life in the city, Publications and information sources, Cultural city Edo, Beauty of Edo, Theaters and geisha house settlement, Four seasons in Edo and amusement quarters, Commerce in Edo, and Villages and islands associated with Edo. The latter zone was composed of the Industrial revolution and Tokyo, Mass Culture and Entertainment Hall, Historical background of Westernization, The Great Kanto Earthquake, Westernization of Tokyo of the Meiji Era, Modern Tokyo, Air raids and the masses, and Reconstructing Tokyo.

Along with dioramas which showed miniature old-style houses and clothes, there was a family tree of the Tokugawas, the shoguns.

“Do you know Tsunayoshi, who prescribed the Edicts on Compassion for Living Things?,” Mike pointed to the fifth shogun in the tree.

His following attempt to assuage Takeko’s sadness went with, “How about Francisco Xavier who first brought Christianity to Japan?” As Mike ostentatiously raised the brim of his cap, his face with a proud goatee pretty resembled that of the founder of the religion.

“Actually you may not be so funny, but thank you,” although Takeko was perplexed into momentary dumbness by his unexpected action, she soon translated her gratitude into a smile. Surely, whether consciously or not, Takeko respected Mike as personally important as a psychological mainstay, beyond just a palm-reader, a consultant, or a celebrity. Simultaneously, Mike knew how she thought about him and could not forsake her.

Just at a short distance from the model of a two-storied building, The Choya Newspaper Publishing Co., Mike and Takeko were side by side on a two-seater rickshaw in The Tokyo Zone. The real sense of sitting down on a seat helped imagine what service with the sleek black taxi people in the past paid for.

“If you could fly to wherever you wanted by this, where would you? Close your eyes,” said Mike in the hope of helping Takeko get out of the persistent thinking circuit based on her ex-boyfriend.

And, she was feeling a little easier with her eyes closed.

“Just imagine, we are floating off the floor slowly but surely. The roof of the museum is opening to give us a way. We are soaring higher and higher through the opening, and let’s see, already getting past thick dark clouds which had rain fall. The skies are unimaginably clear and infinite. Yes, these are infinite. We are flying above the ocean which is harmlessly blue, and heading for somewhere very pristine and safe. Look! What is that ahead? Is that not an island?” Mike kept whispering into the ear of Takeko.

Such a ruse of his seemed working well until the moment when a ringtone went off.

That was coming from Takeko.

“Oh, someone sent me a text message,” Takeko furrowed her eyebrows, but awkwardly fumbling with her cell-phone obviously indicated that she had expectations about her former boyfriend.

“It’s from him!” yelled Takeko. The grade of her exhilaration was a sign that the message was the first after the break-up.

“What does he say?” asked Mike as he couldn’t guess what the message was.

While reading it nervously, Takeko didn’t make a word out.

Only seconds later, she was willing to say something.

“Mike, I understand that it’s quite an asking, but could I possibly borrow some money?”

Mike immediately felt as if his face was trampled down after all his pro bono dedication to her, but luckily he had professional skill to put his temper under control: he scotched the emergence of frustration successfully. And he thought that she would have been exploited if she didn’t quit the fruitless relationship with her ex-boyfriend.

“No, you can’t,” Mike snipped the asking off.

As Takeko turned her wavering eyes down from a small stage on which the rickshaw was placed, there were families of humans too.

“I still have future plans with him,” Takeko was in tears.

“I understand your feelings, but I’m sorry. I can’t lend you money.”

Seeing the dog sobbing and unable to move on her own, Mike gave the fluffy body a piggyback and descended the steps of the stage for her future.