image: Qi Rari
“I was dead broke. It was winter.”
I was dead broke. It was winter. The owner of a small sake-ya across the street from my flat had access to promotion merchandise from the brands he stocked. Chalk it up to “nomunnication” [1] because my Japanese was really bad, but he had somehow taken a liking to me. So, after one look at me in a t-shirt, I found myself the recipient of a brand new, brand-sponsored winter coat. It was big, black, shiny, and I thought, wonderful.
To the ever brand conscious Tokyoites, however, the big red patch on the left chest that read “Wonda Coffee,” [2] while intriguing, was repulsive. Their faces reflected my binbou[3] status. Those vainglorious glares acted as a cold counterweight to the heavy lining of my coat, so every now and then I’d provide a warm cup full of a fresh brewed witticism: “I’m Tiger Woods” or my favorite, “I’m dating Yuko Ogura.” [4]
One day, as I walked out of Yoyogi Park and waited at the crosswalk, I felt a chill. After turning to deliver my line, I soon found myself in a trance, wondering exactly what everyone else had - where did you get that coat? It was one of the homeless men who lives the park. And he was wearing my coat. Indeed, a Wonda-ful life. 
referenced works
- Nomunnication: Nomu (Japanese: to drink) and Communication. The result is "nomunnication", that close feeling you get when drinking. ↩
- Check out Canned Coffee for all of your canned coffee inquiries. ↩
- Binbou: Poor ↩
- Tiger endorsed Wonda Coffee and Yuko has appeared in at least one commercial. ↩
location information
- Name: a crosswalk outside Yoyogi Park
- Address: Tokyo Japan, Yoyogi Park
- Time of story: afternoon
- Latitude: 35.66848
- Longitude: 139.697471
- Map: Google Maps
033 “Dewy eyes closed, her porcelain arms and legs splayed attractively”
032 “The ika had made too many turns.”
031 “A tongue was moving around my big toe, like a warm slug crawling. ”
030 “Ichor will gush out of this carefully constructed image”
029 “I wince, more than her.”
028 “Their schoolbags were puddled around their socks, forgotten”
027 “Amongst the bottles and the obscure records and the crimson velvet walls”
026 “Nostalgia isn’t an easy indulgence for amateurs”
025 “... but anyway please take one of these little cheese cakes ...”
024 “The inhabitants of the blue, makeshift tents in the bushes.”
023 “Yeah … I’m sorry too. Merry Christmas.”
022 “I was dead broke. It was winter.”
021 “The district's energy had faded to rest on my last night there.”
020 “The slightly bald salaryman didn't correspond to any memory I could conjure up.”
019 “She laughed at my effort and responded in English, ‘Long time, no seduction.’ ”
018 “In my dreamy state, oblivious to signs and announcements I often boarded the wrong train.”
017 “I was fifteen years old and it was one of those nights.”
016 “That ear of corn just wanted to go home”
015 “With his painstakingly coiffured mane blowing in the wind”
014 “Her voice, even across languages, betraying her worry.”
013 “I saw them drawing bamboo sticks from a silver rectangular box.”
012 “A simulacrum of someone else's home, equal parts comfort and loss.”
011 “Jumbled Escheresque insanity where geography in any traditional sense ceases to exist.”
010 “I could hardly make out anything apart from his glowing eyes...”
009 “Shibuya was like a stroke.”
008 “I cried for a while and wiped the dead bracken off my karate pants.”
007 “Both my tie and my disposition hang limp as I calculate the remaining distance to the station.”
006 “I once read about a Chinese maiden whose feet were unbound by a cruel man …”
005 “The Bad Girl strutted off and I was left with a ham egg pie.”
004 “I arrived expecting an irritated Japanese person to step out of the crowd and identify himself as Hideki.”
003 “The woman at the ticket window seemed surprised to see another human being. I was the only visitor.”
002 “Flanked on either side by adult manga shops and the like, the smell of yakitori in the air.”
001 “For two weeks the day began with this morning walk, our shared routine.”
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