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saleem
who is currently moving around East Asia.

kidethnic@gmail.com

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The Curious Visitor at the End of the World · 21 August 06

The Japanese high school student turned to me in the middle of her last dinner with my family in America…

“What would you do if tonight if the world would end tomorrow?” she asked.

“Huh. Ok, like if I knew?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I dunno. I would probably have another slice of pizza. This is pretty good, right?”

She nodded. I thought a bit more.

“And I’d call a couple people, tell ‘em I love ‘em, maybe. But I wouldn’t wanna spend too much time on the phone… I guess I’d stay up the rest of the night making crazy songs with my family.”

That seemed like a solid plan to her. “You?” I asked.

“I’d drive a car.”

I laughed. Makes sense for an unlicensed 16-year old. “Yeah, that’s pretty fun. Where would you go?”

“Shopping.”

“Ha. Why? What would you buy?”

She pointed to the 2-liter on the table. “A big Coke.”

“Good plan. What would you do with it?”

She pantomimed steering a car with her left hand. She leaned way back in her dining room chair, like a gangsta.

With her right hand, she tilted a gigantic invisible Coke to her lips.

Word.
—-
BONUS:

Aforementioned homestay student on the right, the little sister on the left:

My Crew Reps America
(click to enlarge)

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  1. Dear Hitomi,

    You rock.
    — Dan    1477 days ago    #

  2. Out of curiousity (because I have the same lomo camera), what kind of film do you use? The colours are much more vibrant than in my pics. Also, fantastic blog! Muchly enjoying these tales out of Kumamoto.
    — Kobuta    1476 days ago    #

  3. Gracias, Kobuta.

    I use regular 400 speed film, Fujifilm or Kodak (whichever the 7-11 store stocks).

    I’m kind of weird about light, like if the light is bad I don’t shoot anything, and if the light is good I go on the hunt. What time of day do you like to shoot?

    You on (photo-sharing site) flickr.com? If so, come find me so I can see your pics, too. Flickr name (shockingly): kidethnic

    It’s firewalled at work so I only check flickr once a week. But I love it dearly.
    — saleem    1475 days ago    #

  4. By the way, Senor, this post has a beautiful title. Actually, lots of them do. But I like this one a lot.
    — Dan    1474 days ago    #

  5. NOTE TO JET PROGRAMME KIDS:
    If you spell the word program p-r-o-g-r-a-m-m-e, it’s because you have been in Japan too long, and you have forgotten that you are American, not British. If you are British, then your memory may still be intact, although we really have no way of knowing.
    — Your friendly neighbour    1474 days ago    #

  6. Aw, thanks Dan.

    There’s actually a Murakami book with a similar name: “Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World”. Different connotations, but the rhythm on that one is really nice. Haven’t read it yet.

    My friendly neighbor:
    Oh, silly friendly neighbor, I haven’t forgotten by birthplace. I was just being all official like and spelling it the way the JET suits do themselves. Though I don’t actually know why they spell it that way, any guesses?
    — saleem    1471 days ago    #

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