I had the chance to meet up with my mate for a minute this afternoon.  He has taken up Judo in Japan and I passed on my old heavy dogi (marital arts uniform) to him.  I love meeting up with him.  He always has the best stories to tell.  He is a natural modern day urban griot.

I kind of feel like the stories are a form of payment, and entertainment for me.  I am by my nature an observer and listener, so we compliment each other well.

I first met up with him about 5 years ago when we did some wheat pasting together in Tokyo.  There was nothing quite like running around the streets of Tokyo with a steaming hot bucket of homemade glue to help cement a friendship.  He went back to the UK not to long after that, but we keep in touch thanks to the wonders of the Internet.

He devoured a plate of meat sauce spaghetti, glass after glass of Coca Cola, and finished it up with an enormous ice cream parfait.  In typical Japanese style it included a pudding, cereal, brownie, and topped off with a heaping of whipped cream and fresh sprig of mint.  He explained that he has been craving calories and gave in to the pleasure of eating some cheap eats at the family restaurant Gusto.

He was sporting a fresh vintage Adidas jacket.  When I asked him about it he told me it was a jacket that his father had handed down to him.  I would never could imagine him buying something like that, but getting it handed down is much more special.  He has got a fresh style without being trendy.  He just is what he is.

I always have a good time and I look forward to our next adventure and letting him spin some urban tales.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 31st, 2013 at 5:21 pm and is filed under Photography Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.