For Randall, from Mary Jane
Comments: 4
How long has it been? Stopped in to eat a muffin for lunch. Some new paintings on the wall, well, one. Some old favourites. They used to get the Village Voice. Drinking a can of Heineken before the muffin arrives. Bacon and cheese (and still the macrocosm of pickles on the side).
The music still a little loud — good for isolating conversations when the tables are full. Could it be a variable-volume space, quieter when emptier? I’m the only one here.
Caught the bus into Shibuya, No. 23, after doing one of those gaijin things: stopped by the kuyakusho to get the address on my card updated. This administrative thread running back to one’s earliest days in the country. Applying for permanent residency. Does that get me a table with my name on it at Mary Jane? A smile from the waitress at Masako? A spot on the table in front of the piano at the Hi-no-Maru Ken?
Manhattan-style cheesecake, ¥600. I hope they have some left.
Did I ever notice before that they have Lapsang Souchong tea?
•••
Posted to MetaStuff • 2005.10.26 (Wed) • 21:23
Comments
Posted by Kristen 2005.10.27, 19:09
Even permanent residents don’t get smiles from the Masako waitresses. Except that one who grinned one evening by mistake and she was soon fired. Congratulations on moving towards permanent residency. I count the days until I qualify.
Posted by experimental classical music composer 2005.11.01, 04:40
mmmmm…..cheesecake
Posted by Randal 2005.11.04, 11:49
I tried a couple times during the summer to pay my last Mary Jane respects but it wasn’t open. Glad to hear you’ve made contact. Was it avant fusion jazz they were playing? With black and proud free verse? I do miss it. The Masako waitresses always smiled at me—if I met them on the street. (Kind of like seeing your elementary school teacher at the supermarket.) I had a last go round at Hi-no-Maru-ken. Kuziya gave me twenty boxes of matches. Did you know he was my guarantor? Hope my landlady didn’t sock him for damages. Sixteen years: nearly permanent.
Posted by michelle 2005.12.15, 00:11
nice blog you have here… i surfed in off of the weblog awards.
there is a couple at my office named randall and mary jane. :)
Post a comment:
Send This Story to an Enemy
• • •
