WED 1 SEP 99

Consuming Beauty in the Big Udon

Boioioing! I’ts 5:15 and I’m up.

A somberly billowing gray bank of clouds blankets Mt. Rokko’s range to the west. Thirty-four floors below, the sidewalks are still curled up in a hushed silence – recovering and regenerating for the next stampede. The sun gradually paints the clouds into a spreading glow of candy corn colors. September sails into Osaka Harbor amidst this aerial splendor. It unloads its hold of heat and humidity onto the docks, then spreads out to greet the commuting swarms.

I turn to the matters more immediately at hand. Like the plate of fruit on my sitting table. This time, it’s not a plate, but a platter. A broad band of golden yellow brims the white center. An artful arrangement of shapes bearing Nature’s colors compliment each other. There is a pastel yellow Asian pear, three red strawberries, a cluster of reddish purple grapes, a purple plum, an orange nectarine, and a pale lime tangerine.

I destroy it all with gusto and relish. Beauty never tasted so good.

I retrieve my morning stimulator from under the door. It does not fail me. Once again, the Mainichi News (my favorite English language Japanese newspaper) stands tall in its field:

Viagra leaves 2 stiffs since drug’s approval

Two people have died after taking Viagra without a doc-tor’s prescription in the seven months since the anti-impotence drug was approved in January for sale in the country, the Health and Welfare Ministry said.

Let me just say, that the story continues at some length.

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I sum up the rest of the day as follows:

Sky Umeda building – misting, light show inside.

Restaurant downstairs – high rent district.

Long tunnel to Hankyu

Off to Rhiga Royal and Sky lounge – light effect.