Wednesday, February 7th, 2001
I call Dom; he will show me the place mid-afternoon. It is raining, so I kill time in shops, restaurant, bank, etc. Dominic seems like a good successful, nice guy, but is somehow not too likeable, but not offputting. I rent a room in his boarding house. It is not clean, or spacious, or calm, but it is cheap. There are some crazy kooks living here...mostly English teachers. There is lots of politics, non-stop gossip, and general good feelings punctuated by regular backstabbing and finger pointing. What a zoo! It seems like a great place to spend a short while and befriend everyone without getting too wrapped up in the situation. I discover that I lost my addressbook! I do some more wandering in Namba, but my enthusiasm is dampened by the rain. As I am waiting to cross the street near my new house, a guy parks his red Ferrari 360 on the street...right next to a Honda NSX...across the street from a late-model bright orange Fiat Barchetta and a blue/purple R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R....very different from the cars you see parked on the street in America!

February 8th, 2001

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