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63824peace · 5 years ago

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Monday, 31st of october 2005

I left midway through today's morning meeting to deliver our "sons" to Aoyama. This time I'm delivering them with my brothers Matsuhanan and Okamura.

"Shall we take a cab to Aoyama?"

"Or perhaps the subway?"

I was indecisive because I didn't know the morning's traffic conditions.

"Why don't we walk?" suggested Matsuhanan.

"Can we make it there on foot?" I asked.

"Yes," he replied. "I have walked there several times already."

"How long is the trip?"

"Oh, about twenty to thirty minutes."

I then remembered an acquaintance of mine who said that he sometimes walks to Roppongi Hills. He works for the company where we're going in Aoyama.

"All right then. Let's walk."

We three agreed and commenced escorting our children to Aoyama.

Matsuhanan guided us through Roppongi at a brisk pace. No solicitors distributed flyers on the street corners. Roppongi looks asleep when it is deserted and empty.

Matsuhanan walked with a quick gait. Lately he has walked to Roppongi Hills from Tokyo's Shibaya district. Okamura and I had no choice but to trust him as our point-man since neither one of us knew the way.

"This way," Matsuhanan said. "It's a shortcut."

We followed Matsuhanan's lead and took a right at the future site of Tokyo Midtown. Then we ran into a road construction sign--accompanied by a detour notification.

"Construction . . . this is troublesome."

We had no choice. We couldn’t just trespass through a construction site, so we had to take the roundabout detour.

We finally arrived in Aoyama after about thirty minutes. We got lost a few times and wound up walking longer than we had planned.

"We really took the scenic route this time," Matsuhanan said.

We still enjoyed the walk. It was pleasant to walk through the scenery that we usually miss when we take the subway or a taxi. We experienced Roppongi, Akasaka, and Aoyama as a linear sequence of places rather than train stops and exchange points.

We had to take a few turns into alleys on blind faith, yet we discovered a few of the older narrow paths. Those really surprised us.

"Hey! Tokyo still has little nooks like these around?"

Matsuhanan, Okamura, and I each exclaimed joyously every time we saw a narrow path, an obscure alley, or even a sloping road. We were all born in the 1960's, so these sights had a powerfully nostalgic effect, even if we weren't born in this exact area. We could feel some rustling memory of places like this even though we had never lived in the neighborhoods. We must have stumbled across authentic Tokyo.

The newer face of Tokyo (like the Hills) is cosmopolitan, urbane, and metropolitan. We'll even have the new Tokyo Midtown soon. Old-fashioned, traditional Tokyo still nestles among the shinier buildings though. I enjoyed a real promenade today.

We left our beloved children's seeds at Aoyama.

Afterwards we took our ritual prayer breakfast at the cafe in the underground level of the Aoyama Twin Towers. Matsuhanan and I eat breakfast here every time we drop off our children. However, our prior agreement on breakfast also constitutes an important part of the ritual. We hadn't spoken about it beforehand, so Matsuhanan didn't eat anything. I only had a banana and some yogurt.

Our breakfast is a ritual way of praying to God. "We eat this breakfast here, in hopes that good things will happen after we have handed over our children."

The cafe isn't particularly glamorous and the meal isn't high class. Quite to the contrary, the food is plain as is the location. We aren't acting on a superstition that we heard about through some rumor either. We simply believe that this works. We've enacted our ritual prayer breakfast for seven years now.

We just handed in the discs for the game that we developed. We're not going to pretend that we can keep our cool on the very day that we send our children into the world. We feel anxious, so we feel like praying to God. There's no scientific rationale behind it.

As a matter of fact, Matsuhanan and I have kept the ritual a secret since MGS1. Okamura came with us today, so we reluctantly confessed to him. He smiled without a hint of mockery and said, "I'm the same way. I have my own superstitious routines that I use to call on good fortune whenever I prepare documents. I can't imagine there's anyone who doesn't do something similar."

We took the subway back to the Hills after we ate. I saw something strange when I stopped by the subway station restroom.

I imagined Doraemon pronouncing its name: "The Restroom That Anyone Can Enter."

As the name implies, it's an all-access public restroom. Anyone can use it without finding that his or her specific needs are unmet--male, female, physically handicapped, or wet nursing.

It's not a multi-tasking restroom... it's a multi-user restroom!

I had never imagined the idea of an all-access public restroom before. I wonder if creatures other than people could use it too.

It's a magnificent idea. Dwelling on it gives me a new sense of freedom.

The formal declaration that anyone could enter made me feel uneasy though. I settled for the traditional men's room instead.

I ate linguine with smoked salmon and cream for lunch at the Italian restaurant Piatto Piatto. Senju joined me because KojiPro had been in a meeting all morning. He briefed me on the preparations for G-STAR, which will be held next week in Korea. Senju went to Korea last week to assist with the preparations, and he also visited the expo site to check up on its progress.

Senju says that Korea's G-STAR is really hot.

Matsuhanan and Kore-P leave for Korea tomorrow to help install the Online Versus Mode demo booth.

I found the new Repairman Jack book by F. Paul Wilson at the bookstore. I snatched the two volume set of The Haunted Air. I can't wait to read them!

I had bought the original English version of The Haunted Air last year since the publishers took a while with the translated version. I expected that I would be able to read it, but I was wrong. Now I'll have my chance!

I also bought the sixth volume of Shohei Harumoto's manga series CB kan/REBORN from the bookstore's manga section.

The Promotions Department sent word that we can now watch the MGS4 trailer on the Quicktime Corner page of Apple's official site. I visited the site and checked it out.

Quicktime movies use a special compression rate, so the image quality is really good.

I actually visit Apple's U.S. Quicktime site pretty regularly. I greatly appreciate the movie trailers on the site. I've made a private routine of watching the site's movie trailers every morning. I watch them in the early morning so I can turn the volume loud in my empty work booth. This way I can see the movie trailers before most others in Japan.

Incidentally, they support a Japanese site too. The U.S. site hosts trailers for movies that we haven't even heard about in Japan though. It even has teaser images.

I try to watch as many movies as I can when I am in the U.S. on a business trip. There's some merit in seeing them before they hit Japan, even though they're in English.

There's another benefit to seeing movies in the United States. I can watch the trailers that run before the feature movie begins. I also use this as a means to see the latest trailers and film images before anyone else in Japan.

What's more, U.S. theaters run so many trailers. The audience will typically react with applause or jeers despite the fact that the trailer isn't the main feature.

The U.S. sure is a movie-loving country. I have enjoyed feeling as though I were in a U.S. theater every morning, even though I'm in Japan, since I learned about the U.S. Quicktime site.

I drafted a new project for the PSP. I just mailed Okamura a rough draft since I didn't have time to write down the details. I'll explain all that in the meeting. I don't like the way that I've approached my work as a planner lately, but I don't have much choice right now.

I've carried this project around in my head for a while now. The idea is really innovative. The whole project will fall flat if the technological presentation and the audience's reaction aren't just right. It's kind of risky and uncertain, but I think it's time to proceed with it.

It employs a completely new concept. Our main challenge will be whether or not we can cultivate popular acceptance of the idea. I'll ask around for opinions from the sales department.

Tomiko bought something called a Ghost Radar (USB Memory) package in the evening. It's supposed to detect the presence of ghosts by sensing disturbances in the nearby magnetic fields.

It was built on the idea that we can "see the unseen!"

"Today is the day for hauntings, after all," I said to myself. "We should have plenty of ghosts around."

I walked around the KojiPro office but I didn't encounter any ghosts. It seems that there aren't any here.

I looked at the package more closely. The instructions read, "Please operate this product by turning it on at midnight." Tomiken had turned it on around noon.

Today is Halloween.

October 31 is New Year's Eve according to the ancient Celtic calendar. The ancient Celts dressed up to exorcise evil spirits while they celebrated the advent of the new year. They used pumpkins to thwart evil spirits too.

Pumpkins traditionally have faces carved into them on Halloween. The practice comes from a legend about a man named Jack who couldn't go to Heaven when he died because of his bad behavior. He wandered as a ghost and carried a lantern made out of a hollowed turnip. Pumpkins that wear faces are called Jack o'Lanterns, even though they were originally turnips.

This story was originally going to play into Raiden's backstory in MGS2. His name is Jack, and he was nicknamed Jack the Ripper because he was greatly feared when trained as a child soldier. The Patriots used this very same Jack as their "lantern" to move through the Big Shell. Given the circumstances, he was supposed to remind the audience of a Jack o'Lantern.

I excluded this from the final scenario though. Not even the team members knew about it. The idea has stayed in my own private junk drawer.

My generation stopped celebrating Western holidays with Valentine's Day, but I wonder if Halloween will continue as a widely celebrated family event through our children's generation. I've seen more and more pumpkins in town, and I heard that costume parties are pretty common events. I've never seen children roaming door-to-door saying "Trick or treat!" in my neighborhood though. I suppose it will happen one day.

I don't associate pumpkins with Halloween. Instead I think of Michael Myers (the Boogie Man) from the Halloween movies.

"The Boogie Man is coming!"

I should head home early today.

Okamura called me with some news in the evening. It seems that our ritual prayer didn't work. Perhaps the problem resulted from having more than the usual members present this time. Apparently a small clerical error showed up, so I'll have to deliver our children again tomorrow.

Don't turn into a wandering spirit like Jack in the legend, Okamura! We'll protect ourselves with the Ghost Radar.

Tonight is definitely Halloween.

At night I headed to the HMV in Shinjuku district. I bought HIM's album Love Metal. I liked their Greatest Hits album a lot, so I wanted to buy the album that preceded Dark Light. I couldn't find Love Metal in Roppongi, so I went all the way to the Shinjuku district.

They set up a special HIM section at HMV in honor of the band's Japanese debut. Copies of Dark Light and And Love Said No: Greatest Hits 1997-2004 were piled up. I even saw some Apocalyptica next to HIM, though I'm unsure why. Perhaps they were associated because they're both Finnish Metal bands.

Luckily I found the last imported copy of Love Metal on the display, so I bought it.

I'm somewhat amazed at myself. "How can I listen to Metal music at my age!?" My heart is drawn to the music right now, so I can't resist it. HIM really isn't Metal at its roots though--it's Love Metal.

Kenichiro and I had dinner at the Tokyo Shanghai Club Bi Li Chin on the eighth floor of MYCITY.

Mr. Kato (the restaurant's manager) earned a lot of my appreciation when he worked at Roppongi's Chinese restaurant Fuuton San Raakyo. I don't choose a restaurant based on food alone. The service provided by the staff is also crucial. Mr. Kato gave me top-notch hospitality every time I went to Fuuton San Raakyo. I had learned that he had been promoted to one of the affiliated restaurants in Shinjuku.

I've missed him every time I've eaten in the MYCITY building because I've gone to all the wrong restaurants. I went to Fuuton San Raakyo to confirm the name of the restaurant this time, so I didn't make the same mistake.

I haven't seen Mr. Kato in six months. I'm glad that he looks well. The food was exquisite too. I was able to have my favorite Chinese alcohol Shokoshu out of a jar. I've been keeping myself from drinking that lately.

Three cheers for Mr. Kato!

Tonight is October 31. I don't feel like it's Halloween though. I won't turn into a wanderer with a Jack o'Lantern. I'll even be fine without a Ghost Radar.

I will live among everyone. I have loved ones who will call me back when I am lost.

I will live among everyone because I am bound to this world because this world has meaning.

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