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 Yasue
turned out to be an extremely interesting person as we walked to the
train station from the apartment. He would point out little details
in almost anything that only artists seem to find. I did not even
know that they existed until he would point it out. He seemed to be
carefree and would laugh loudly when I would tell him a joke or just
make fun of his artistic personality. He enjoyed his work thoroughly
and wanted to do it the rest of his life. His only dream was to have
an exhibition of his paintings in Paris, New York, and Milan so that he
could showcase to the world his talent that the arts community in Japan
did not seem to value. The studio was small and there were several
other painters who shared the space.
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As I had imagined, the place
was a mess, as an artist's gallery would be. Yasue liked to paint
couples – it was apparent from his collection of paintings with couples
in various situations. These were not necessarily erotic paintings -
just couples in a variety of interesting settings. "Am I
starting to like this guy?" I asked myself. I was feeling
attracted to him even more even though I was not drunk any more.
"This guy does not seem to have any money though. What am I
going to do with someone whose paintings don't sell in Japan and what is
the probability of his success overseas, even if I could be his
interpreter", I kept thinking as Yasue explained the background of
each of his paintings.
When
we sat down for lunch, I was already starving. Drinking my miso
soup, I thought that Tokyo was an interesting place after all, despite my
parent's misgivings. And what surprised my even more was that I fit
so well in less than a day. While I did not seem to have the energy
of Tokyo girls, I was starting to get the hang of it. And even more
exciting was the fact that there were so many cute guys to hang out with.
In less than a day, I had already met two cute guys and Mother was not
around to critique them. "That's not good!" I scolded
myself. I have come here to explore career options, not cute
guys.
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On
the train back to the apartment, I realized that Yasue was quieter and
spoke more philosophically about his life. I sat close to him as if
to comfort him and feel his warmth. As he spoke about the impact of
romance in a couple's life and the energy that love can give to life,
tears rolled down his face. "Life is so different when you are
around such interesting people", I thought.
While I had always felt contented in France, and hanging out with
my intellectual friends, only now I was
realizing what I had been missing in my life.
There was so much to see and do beyond what I had experienced in
France.
Being an elite in France gave you access to so many good things but
then there was so much else in the world that does not get into your
horizon. While reading French
literature, I was always fascinated by the scenes in which characters in
the novels would engage in serious philosophical discussions.
I had never imagined that I would ever be able to have similar
discussions with a Japanese man. Chatting with Yasue, however, made me realize that it was
possible.
Yumiko
showed up around 4 PM as I was watching TV and thinking about my next few
days. She was already starting to get convinced that I would enjoy
being in Tokyo and life would be much more interesting for me. She
was as cheerful as always and informed that her sister was not so ill
after all. She was glad that she went to visit her last night since
she was alone and not feeling too good.
The fast-paced life in Tokyo has been too hard on her and she was
just trying to cope with it.
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Next part: Going
out to Roppongi
Related:
How to seduce a Japanese man
How to date my teacher
How to introduce my Japanese boyfriend to my parents
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