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The Devil’s Gravity

9:30 a.m. Jiyugaoka Station. Exhausted. Days without rest, nights without sleep. Everything I looked at wavering in-and-out of slow-motion view.

I watched him enter the train and sit down directly in front of me, squirming in between two ladies sleeping. One awoke, the other didn’t seem to notice. Not yet, anyway.

Outbound Tokyo, so no morning rush to have to endure. But the train was emptier than usual, although that’s never a complaint in Japan; I just couldn’t help but wonder why he chose to wedge himself uncomfortable instead of opting for more personal space.

He was dressed in a standard salary man business suit and had with him a rather large, very green tote bag. Overstuffed. He looked unkempt, disheveled, Five o’clock shadow at morn. Didn’t care as the lady on his right shot glares at him when he spread his legs – taking up more room. Continued to stare vacuously in my direction, eyes glazed over like I’ve never seen before.

The train doors closed and we were underway, and that’s when it – he – began. Left hand in right coat pocket to pull out a package of convenience store peanuts. Totally oblivious to elementary manners, he lazily opened it, then began to pour the contents into his mouth. Chewed with his mouth open while the lady ogled in horror; after a moment, he folded the silver bag and shoved it back into his right coat pocket. Immediately afterward he retrieved a bottle of tea from his tote. Uncapped it. And then began to drink in audible gulps.

The lady, thoroughly disgusted. The other, still sleeping, still completely unaware. I found the scene absolutely marvelous, a series of perversions sitting three in a row and acting as one. Dysfunctional performance art. Virtual surreality. Then again, I was semiconscious, or maybe that had everything to do with it.

He put the bottle away in his left coat pocket, but when his hand returned there was something else in it. A small rectangle of glistening foil. I nearly burst out in giggles when I realized what it was: one of four for 100円 blocks of Snow Brand processed “baby” cheese.

With the pinky of his right hand he peeled away the foil, picking off pieces and popping them into his mouth. The lady went pale, and the other finally stirred, then woke, then similarly changed colour. By the time he was finished, and bottle of tea again withdrawn, both ladies had stood up to find other seats.

Next stop, Tamagawa Station. He’d moved to one end of his seat and had the peanuts out again. A younger salary man sat down next to him, soon scanning the faces of the other commuters as if to ask, “Doesn’t anyone else see what this man is doing!?”

Peanuts. Tea. Cheese. Tea. A practiced routine for an impractical ritual. The younger man removed himself at the next station. Somebody else sat down, and the sequence resumed…

…until all 4 blocks of cheese had been consumed. Tea finished. Peanuts gone.

He got off at Kikuna Station, and I’ll watch for him the next time I’m there

Posted by Invisibleye in: Experiences   Comments Off   21 April, 2010   Tags: Jiyugaoka Station, Kikuna Station, Tamagawa Station, Tokyo

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