A Tale of Two Cities

We weren’t so thrilled when first introduced 17 years ago. “Who is this Miss Oh-I’m-So-Superior?” one was witnessed wondering (w/ some eyes rolling). “What did I just see? What snobbery personified!” the other was heard bemoaning (w/ a mouth gaping). Haughtiness & holier-than-thouness aside, one went luckily on to divine to realise to recognise the other being partial, too, to adverbs, proper accents, gingerheads & cute guys who spend but only speak when allowed. One recent dinner in central Bangkok, Niram said “In case you haven’t noticed, we haven’t had a trip together for possibly a century!” That was it! We looked up from our lobsters. We glanced at the city’s skyscrapers. We heard a skytrain snaking on from down below. We searched for a meaning of life in our just-served Cosmo’s. Clear was it as day that up from there was to be our only way. Fast forward to now and here we are and to where we are we say “Konichiwa!” There’s no such thing as objectivity you must confess. Only that Tokyo is the Duality Queen of Asia – a Mecca for every oriental princess. So edgy-and-yet-reserved. So progressive-but-still-nostalgic. So dapper-and-yet-demure. So prideful-and-yet-playful. As if to comply, our day programme stubbornly goes vanilla and all. Resiliently, the appropriate remains the case until the night falls. Sub-cultures, sub-cultures! However, however, shhhhhhhh. Arigatou gozaimasu. N & M Tokyo, Japan Oct. 25-31, 2013