The first session of the day was held in a conference room made available to us by the city of T., in the S. building next to the train station, one of those terminals from which the tracks leave in only one direction.

Under the bleak neon lighting, a lectern faced rickety tables aligned as in a classroom. Some lecturing did in fact take place, but we soon moved on to an exercise designed by A. to bring us closer together.

Blushing, L. talked about her business of shipping locally-purchased goods to overseas customers, whom she finds on the popular F. web site. Y., of course, talked about his painstaking efforts perfecting scale models of fictitious starships, and A. let us hear a recording of himself playing the guitar. M. spoke of her pleasure of having moved to the K. region last year.

Walking over to the ferry terminal, I felt pressed for time. The speedboat to N. island had already arrived. Y. started taking photos, but M. asked to be left out of the frame.