Surrounded

A few stones' throw away from where I live, in the direction away from the several temples (and the zen mind), is the city proper with its many drinking establishments and other material ways to drop a chunk of change.   I was in the heart of it yesterday afternoon, and even I, well versed in the ways of changing identities (in the past, at least) was pulled by the magnet that was Japanese hip-hop culture- probably because it is pure escapism, and I was once one of those pretenders (back in the day when hip-hop was called rap).  Anyway, it was a fun experience, and I found out about a street festival next month which will be hip-hop themed, and I will surely report on that experience later.  But, in the meantime, I have to find some appropriate clothing- as my everyday costume of suit and tie will look rather conspicuous in that scene.

The whole point of this yakkety yak was to mention how there is a promenade of trees on Jozenji-Dori, right before the beginning or end of the city (depending on how you look at it), and it is lined with zeklova trees which are majestic.  There is something so beautiful and mysterious about standing there- as if the city does not really exist, and, honestly, it does not.  These trees echo something from the past and the future, as if nature is calling out to me again and again to give up the illusion of the present, and that Everything- every little thing in the world is in your own mind, in my own mind.