Big City Lights

Joan's blogging about gardening, vegetables/food, and farming in Tokyo has opened an interesting window for her.  I saw an ad in Metropolis magazine looking for writers for a new environmental organization called Greenz and encouraged her to show them her blog, Popcornhomestead, and "apply" to be a blogger for them.  They liked what they read and asked her to come in for an interview in Shibuya, a busy area that has the insanely crowded street crossing that is often featured in pieces about Tokyo.  They liked what they heard and invited her to be a blogger for them!  She is currently working on her first piece about our roof thatching trip over Golden Week.

Greenz just launched their new web page and had a party to celebrate it.  We decided to skip our Thursday night Japanese class and go.

We got a late start and did not plan on the size and complexity of Shibuya!  If not for the iphone,

 we would have been even later.  We used the iphone like a GPS to find us on googlemaps and lead us to the restaurant.

It was the usual hot, sweaty, and smoky event full of people trying to be hip and network.  We had a good time talking to another blogger, a Swedish man who has written a book about organic food in Japan, a graphic designer, and a funeral director who is promoting 'green' funerals.  It was very cool.  Joan, I did not realize until later in the evening, was extremely nervous about the whole thing, in terms of meeting people 'professionally.'  I went to put my hand on her back, and it was drenched with sweat.  I looked at her with concern, and she whispered, "I'm really nervous.  I'm sweating like a pig."

The "It's a Small World" moment happened when we randomly struck a conversation with a guy who does web design.  Through the usual chatter, we discovered that his college roommate was a guy we know in Michigan, Matt Demmon, one of the three guys I have been doing controlled

burns for the last couple of years.  How random is that?

After we escaped from the event into the cool night air, we walked around Shibuya a bit and enjoyed the lights and activity.  It makes us realize, again, that our little corner of Tokyo is very quiet and residential.  On the crowded train back, the number of people decreased until we got to Musashisakai. 

It was nice to see some of the big city.  It made us remember that we are in Tokyo!  It is very easy to get caught up in our own little world and

 forget exactly where we are...