I get a lot of curious onlookers and potential visitors asking about Japan--what it's like, how I've made my way, and if I've enjoyed my time here. They're all loaded questions really, and so more often than not, my respective answers are guilty of being appropriately laden with bullshit. Not the "lies" sort of bullshit one might come to expect, but bullshit of the more oversimplified nature. Mostly because in general, I think the only thing that matters less than the collective weight of my own personal experience, are the assumptions gleaned from my pithy summaries. Truth is, when we're free to stake our own course--our own naked reality (outcome notwithstanding), why would you want to just get your feet wet if you've got the whole deep end of the pool to flounder around in? In response to this metaphorical fist of ham, the DI has loaded two shells of bullshit into this old analogous rifle.
Commencing turkey shoot:
the DI looks up "analogy" in the dictionary...
Call it a "roll." Less like a wheelie, and more like a welded ballerina in rubber tires doing pirouettes on concrete. Yuji has been trying to hit this trick for the better part of two months now. String together all the photographs I have of him mid-attempt, and pull out the ones of his crashes, flats, and busted rims, we'd probably have a full length stop-motion film of him rolling like steel on stage with the Nutcracker. The particular attempt above is no exception to the reality. He ghosted it less than a half a second after the shutter snapped. But that's the beauty of a photograph--a medium wherein the subject's outcome is nowhere near as important as the execution captured in progress; ultimately what would (hopefully) make any photograph worth looking at.
...fails to locate
And just the same--granted the shutter speed here is slower, but the effect is the same. We've got an uncharacteristically serene Okayama ekimae, and two young girls under umbrella refuge, all soaked in the surrounding neon glow. Ingredients familiar enough for anyone who's been to Japan. A snapshot. A summary, of sorts. Just as before with Yuji, at only a glimpse of the photo, the viewer is left to interpret as they see fit, the skill of the rider, or the exotic allure of the locale. We're still not privy to the full understanding--the picture behind the picture.
Reality.
But even if you could know, would you still want to? Is a 1/60th second summary enough for you to decide? Wouldn't it be better to buy a plane ticket, or get on a bike and just start cranking wheelies to find out for yourself?
My own snapshot... Finally growing monochrome.
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