The Cat and The City
Makiko was a hostess, but that can mean all kinds of different things. Some good, some not so good. Osaka is rife with drinking spots, but an address is enough to tell you what you should expect, in terms of clientele and atmosphere and hostesses. She worked in Shobashi, the neighborhood the three of us worked in for years after we ran off that nig
... See moreMieko Kawakami, Sam Bett, • Breasts and Eggs
“My name’s Lucille,” she said, as she walked over to where the neon sky came down towards the edge of the building. “Lucille Firstborn.” She reached up to screw the yellow bulb into an empty socket. The light glowed evenly and she nodded in satisfaction. “Yes, I was a bulb monkey once. Over twenty-five years’ service, mending the lights. Fixing the
... See moreJeff Noon • A Man of Shadows
The plan was to meet outside the north exit of the Marunouchi Line in Tokyo Station on August 20th—today—at 12:30 P.M.
Mieko Kawakami, Sam Bett, • Breasts and Eggs
After dinner, Andy and I stopped by a bookstore that was next to St. Mark’s Comedy Club. Unorganized, lots of underground poetry, ended up getting “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” and a preface to Plato. I asked the guy if they had any Ed Sanders (his Tales of Beatnick Glory shaped my sense of history of this neighborhood). They had that same book, signed,
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