wasuremashita

I think I need to stop buying CDs.

Last week I decided to put together a J-pop CD for my friend (shhh, don't tell him) and scrounged through my collection for a few of the choice cuts I collected while I was there. One single that I really wanted was missing. I looked through all my CDs four times. I checked behind the stereo. I started to panic that I, somehow, hadn't listened to it since Japan (*unheard of!) and had maybe somehow left it when I moved back to Canada. Then I noticed that a few other CDs were missing.

My stomach twitched with anxiety. I started to think of who had been to my house (surprisingly, over the last three-and-a-half years, the number is low) and if any of them would snatch my sappy J-pop. That wasn't even a possibility. So... I started looking at Amazon Japan and concocted a plan to order new copies along with other J-titles for work. The pages were marked. I'd given up.

Then a couple days ago I looked at the CD holder I had when I was in Japan that I haven't used since because it sucks. I was just going to toss it in the charity pile, but decided I should check to make sure it was empty. And guess what I found.

Twenty-six CDs that I hadn't looked at for almost four years.

So, obviously, I don't need any more CDs and it just makes sense to stop buying them.

By the way, the single I was looking for is brilliant. "Sunny Day Sunday" by Sentimental Bus. If you ever see it in Hard Off (they have one in Vancouver now!!!), buy it.

*while in Japan, I would often take the Shinkansen into Tokyo on the weekend one-day cheap ticket for ladies ("onna no hito no ichi nichi ichiban yasui kippu, onegaishimasu," even though it had a real name; I couldn't ever remember it) and go to the Tower Records in Shinjuku. It was pretty easy to drop 20,000 yen (around $250 Cdn at that time) in less than an hour, pop over to Ameyoko near Ueno Station to buy shoes or watches, go to the Ueno Art Museum for an exhibit, drop into the British pub near Ueno Station for Happy Hour, and still get home before 8pm. I would also drive 2 hours to Takasaki for the less-impressive selection at the Tower Records there. And, of course, an hour in to Bunshindo in Numata for the latest J-pop singles. Which is why I came back with something dumb like 300 CDs.

Lately I miss Japan. Sugoku natsukashii.

Currently listening :
Hatsu
By Whiteberry
Release date: 06 October, 2000