Tokio Whip by Arturo Silva Page A

have been so open.
    â€“ I’m glad you like us, me.
    â€“ Oh yes! It’s nice talking with you, Kazuo. I like Kazuko very much, and have, I suppose, hoped to make some contact with you, but I guess I was never sure how to do so. It was “objective chance” that had us run into one another tonight.
    â€“ Uhn?
    â€“ Oh, it’s a Surrealist phrase. And no, I did not learn it from Lang. I do my own research sometimes too. Anyway, it has been good to make this connection. I thank you, Kazuo. And I feel even better for Kazuko.
    â€“ Thanks. But, if I may ....
    â€“ Yes?
    â€“ Well, is there anything I can do, anything Kazuko and I can do for you, for you and Lang?
    â€“ Oh, Kazuo, that’s sweet of you. But no, oh, I don’t know. Because I don’t know exactly what needs to be done. I want to stay here a while longer; Lang seems to want to stay forever. Maybe he’ll get over that when it comes time for me to leave – if I leave – and then where to? Me return to his Vienna? That’d be a great irony. No – I don’t know, Kazuo – just remain friends with both of us, both of you – talk with us, walk with us. And you and I should have dinner together again. I like you, and you know that though I don’t go into the city very often, when I do I like to go to good restaurants – Kazuko’s told me about your knowing some very good places – after tonight it looks like I could have no better guide than you.
    â€“ Fine, it’s a deal, Roberta. Let me get this.
    â€“ – and you should be my guest sometime.
    â€“ With pleasure. And for that next time I’m already thinking of a small “ethnic” place in Omotesando ...
    ***
    I love the Ogata Ken beer commercials – caught in the rain, diving on to a couch, a big swallow and bigger smile, a wonderful actor.
    Say it, Arlene: take a little walk with me – just two or three big steps – the quality of our love: say it, Arlene: the city in a moment, a word, a neighborhood.
    ***
    SCENE TWO: DEPARTMENT STORE
    The second scene finds the Woman in the basement floors of Seibu Ikebukuro, once the largest department store in the world, now second (or is it third?) to Sogo of Yokohama. How to find her Man amongst all the pickles and vegetables, beef, pork and chicken, lunch boxes, Chinese foods, brown beans in pink rice cakes, liqueurs, beers and wines, and all that saké (including local sakés , such as Richard’s from Ogawamachi)? She stops for some shumai , and then a “health” drink. It’s closing time, and the store is closed the next day, so the shouting of the foodsellers increases. Voices rise as prices fall. Bargain time, and the housewives are at their most violent. Pity the children in tow, pity the foreigner trying to ask politely what that delicious-looking lumpy orange thing is. As she’s sipping her strawberry with ice, she notices some pin-striped cuffs. She throws her drink down, and rushes to the elevators. Too late! To console herself, she orders a freshly squeezed combination kiwi and orange juice.
    ***
    Ah, this city, Kazuo contemplates, Tokyo, Capitol, home of my family for how many generations? Yes, I will be true to you. I have my calendar of festivals. Would Kazuko be interested? Maybe not, she is from Kyoto, after all. But maybe. So I’ll go. And bring her a present – a paper balloon, a spinning top, a dragonfly.
    ***
    ABC 2
    I’ve just got a couple of maps at home, says Roberta. The TIC one is just
Lang was showing me his map collection the other day, Arlene began.
It’s one dimensional, it’s two dimensional, it’s three, it’s four. I was hasty
fine. Then a couple of guide books, but those are mostly for visitors. I
Maps from the Edo Period, all military or festive. That great panoramic
of course to call it two. It’s all your pictures and mine, a Great Mirror,
think you pick up the train