:18:02
At nightfall the megalopolis breaks down into villages,
:18:04
with its country cemeteries in the shadow of banks,
with its stations and temples.
:18:09
Each district of Tokyo once again becomes
a tidy ingenuous little town, nestling amongst the skyscrapers.
:18:28
The small bar in Shinjuku reminded him of that Indian flute
whose sound can only be heard by whomever is playing it.
:18:33
He might have cried out if it was in a Godard film or a Shakespeare play,
"Where should this music be?"
:18:41
Later he told me he had eaten at the restaurant in Nishi-nippori
where Mr. Yamada practices the difficult art of 'action cooking.'
:18:54
He said that by watching carefully Mr. Yamada's gestures
and his way of mixing the ingredients
:18:58
one could meditate usefully on certain fundamental concepts
common to painting, philosophy, and karate.
:19:04
He claimed that Mr. Yamada possessed
in his humble way the essence of style,
:19:11
and consequently that it was up to him to use his invisible brush
to write upon this first day in Tokyo the words 'the end.'
:19:25
I've spent the day in front of my TV set
—that memory box.
:19:28
I was in Nara with the sacred deers.
:19:30
I was taking a picture without knowing
that in the 15th century Basho had written:
:19:34
"The willow sees the heron's image... upside down."
:19:50
The commercial becomes a kind of haiku to the eye,
:19:52
used to Western atrocities in this field;
not understanding obviously adds to the pleasure.
:19:57
For one slightly hallucinatory moment
I had the impression that I spoke Japanese,