Monday 14/07/08 – Friday 01/08/08
Summer Holidays – Japan.
As usual I felt that being in Japan was a good escape from work, bike commutes, dreary weather and a large part of my reality, but I soon realised that it is not just an escape from reality it is somehow an alternative reality.
Usually I try and watch some of our channel’s news programmes but just couldn’t face it this year, they’d be the same as always and every channel would be the same as well, dissecting and scrutinising a couple of pieces of news to mood selecting music for a few days without really saying anything and then moving on to the next, so really what was the point. You can tell I needed a holiday can’t you?
Whereas news and events back home seem as though they are part of the same world and may seem relevant, in Japan these events somehow seem as if they are happening somewhere so distant or even on another planet and so even if they are talked about it somehow appears that they are themselves being seen through a television and so loose relevance and meaning. I am sure it is partly a language and cultural thing but despite the fact that it is the country I know best, after home, it still seems more detached than elsewhere.
When I still have people asking me about living in foggy London and telling me that it must be hard not being able to eat British beef I do start to wander.
Yesterday's News Tomorrow 