In the morning I went to eat tamago kake gohan (raw egg on rice). A friend had strongly recommended it, saying I had to try it. Even for just 320 yen, it was pretty heavy. It made me sleepy.

I finally went to an art museum! I went to the Niigata Bandaijima Art Museum. It was a labyrinth! It's a big building, and the museum was on the fifth floor. I got lost several times.

There was a notice saying no photography, but one woman was taking loads of photos, making a loud click every time. I thought, if she's taking them, then I can too. But the moment I went to take a photo, a gallery attendant came running in my direction and told me off. Honestly, I was annoyed. Why can this woman snap away freely when I can't?

The exhibition was an embroidery exhibition, divided into four chapters. Inuit (it was like children's embroidery and I didn't care for it), costume (Romania and Slovakia; the Slovak embroidery was far more skilful), pictures (mostly picture-book embroidery. As pictures, the one I especially liked was by an artist called Ayakagui: stones and seashells), and fashion (an artist from Paris was using beads to make lavish pictures and handbags).

I recently sent an email about an interview for a coffee job, but no reply came. I figured they'd probably contact me before the interview time, so I went to an internet café and prepared. Even so, nothing came at all. Two hours after the interview time, I heard from them, and it was an email saying, "sorry, could we arrange another date and time?" I was pretty disappointed. I'm riding every day, so I can't guarantee I'll be in a city for an interview. This time I stayed in Niigata for three days in order to do the interview. If this kind of thing happens several times, the tour will never end. Maybe I'm exaggerating. I read manga for six hours and lost all sense of time. I read Sun-Ken Rock, Baki-Dou, Riku, and Blue Lock. I thought, Blue Lock really is something special. The only ones I can get that absorbed in are One-Punch Man, Baki, and Blue Lock. I couldn't take my eyes off the manga, completely forgot there were free drinks, and stared at the pages for two hours. I completely forgot I was even in Japan. So although I was disappointed about the interview, I'm glad I got to read manga. It was a spoiler for the Blue Lock anime, but I couldn't hold back. The artwork in the manga is amazing too, so oh well.

Streetlights look brighter than the moon, so humans tend to focus on streetlights more than on the moon. In life, ugly, dazzling things stand out more, so they easily grab our attention, and the things that matter look blurred and faint. Sometimes you need to force your eyes away from those streetlights and focus on the beauty of the moon.

I went slowly through the city looking for chances to take photos, and searched all the way out to the suburbs. If I find a scene that draws me in, I stop for a second and take it. It's not complicated, and I'm no professional. But it's enough just to photograph scenes that I personally find interesting and that somehow drew me in. So I suppose you could say I'm a photographer. A bad one who deliberately doesn't use any tricks, but that's fresher, isn't it?

By the way, the blog works the same way: sometimes I get lost in thought, and if there's a thought I particularly liked, I just write it down. So I'm a writer, then. A man of many talents. How arrogant.

A poem I wrote:

It's fine, really, though it's hard to let go Is there nothing there, or do I just not like it I don't want to forget, but my memory isn't good If I drift like an unmoored boat, I won't resist Even if I had that strength, I wouldn't use it I want the things that matter to stay with me all my life There's no need to cling like glue The feeling is closer to a strong gravity Comfortable and warm