The Allure of Books

- I like books - too much really, since I have little space to store them in and, once acquired, I hate to get rid of them.  One old book I bought for frivolous reasons around fifteen years ago (from a used book store) recently resurfaced.  Its title is in gold letters on a black background and the title is "The Lyle Official Arts Review - 1978".  "Lyle" in the title caught my attention, and since the book is full of (black and white) pictures of old paintings that were auctioned in 1977, I thought it would be interesting to look through.  I've never spent more than a few minutes at a time actually doing so, but recently it occurred to me that it might be interesting to write about the book and its (not very logical really) allure for me.  The first and last paragraphs of the introduction are as follows:

- "Here is the fourth edition of the Lyle Official Arts Review.  Beside details of many thousands of oil paintings, watercolors, drawings and prints, this, the fourth edition of the Lyle Official Arts Review contains over 2,000 illustrations of selected pictures ranging in value from ￡1 to ￡1,000,000.  These values are computed from auction results gathered over the past year and include, in addition to sales conducted in Britain, a broadly representative selection from some of the major European salerooms."
- [.............. several pages ..............]
- "The picture market is as strong as it ever was.  The dearth of important works has caused the attention of buyers to be drawn to what is available but in general sanity has governed bidding.  Nevertheless, at the lower end of the market yesterday's unconsidered trifles have become today's prizes and I am sure that the tares of today will become tomorrow's wheat."
- One of the things I like about printed books is how each book is a static piece of history.  With electronic text on websites, you never know when it's going to change or disappear.  A printed book though, contains exactly the same information it did on the day the pages came off the printing presses and were bound into book form.
- Back to why I bought it though.  There was "Lyle" in the title, but also the year 1978.  I was (obviously) quite a bit younger then, and holding the book in my hands, I think back to 1978... so much has happened since then.  I wonder how much of it I've forgotten....  I didn't use to wonder how much of my past I've forgotten, but reviewing the video footage of Tokyo I took from 1990-93 over the past twelve years has very clearly highlighted the extent of my memory of that period.  I recorded things so extensively (especially in 1990 and 1991), that even after twelve years of going through the material (as I find time) there is still more.  From the experience of going back and forth between present time and 1990-93, it seems to me that there are four categories of memories:
- Things I remember/remembered clearly as they are recorded on tape (with no change before or after seeing the material again).
- Things I had forgotten about, but quickly remembered soon after seeing them on the screen.
- Things I didn't initially remember when seeing them again on the screen, but that come back after thinking about them for awhile.
- Some things that I don't remember, ever after seeing them.  These are few, but still it's quite strange to see video you took yourself and so know you saw/experienced what you're watching, and yet don't recall the time... even when seeing it again.
- The thing about the videos overall that I find fascinating is how they highlight how memory works.  I experienced the entire "bubble economy" years, and so I believed I remembered them accurately, but over the 17 years my recorded material from that time slept in boxes, I saw a number of TV dramas and movies with (newly made) scenes depicting those years.  Initially, I remember thinking "That's not exactly how it was..." but after seeing a number of such fictional accounts of the time, they colored my memories.  Since memory isn't read-only, but rather recall, and then overwrite-save, it seems that in recalling my memories from 1990 while watching inaccurate fictional accounts of 1990 on TV, the two became mixed in the new version overwrite-saved to memory....
- That's the bad news.  The good news is that once I started revisited 1990-93 via video time machine in 2007, the accurate version quickly came back to me, which seems to suggest that while easy-recall memories are easily corrupted, on a deeper level, an accurate version of things is recorded in the deep reaches of the mind somewhere....
- So how about the years from 1978 to 1990?  I wish I had video material from those years as well, although I suppose it would be pointless as there wouldn't be time to review it all in my lifetime.  It's a really difficult balance - living your life and also having some concept of historical things.  It's hard enough remembering your own life in detail, so I suppose it's little wonder that people forget the lessons of history.  The record is there, but how much time is there to review it?  Still, it mustn't be ignored!  There is much to learn from history.

Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon
www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/
youtube.com/lylehsaxon
lylehsaxon.blogspot.jp/
lookback1997.blogspot.jp/

In a Space Exclusively

2019/08/11 There seems to be a lot of interest and/or nostalgia for the "bubble economy" years in Japan.  I was in Japan for that entire period (arriving a couple of years before it started), and via video time machine, I have spent the past twelve years (2007-2019) revisiting the 1990-93 (mainly 1990 and 1991) period.  1990 was the tail end of the peak bubble economy years and by the end of 1991, it was clear things were sliding....  That combination has put that period of time front-and-center in my mind in a kind of strange way.  Normally, you live through things and remember highlights, reinforcing those highlights whenever you recall them - and apparently also altering them, as the memory is, unfortunately, not read-only access, but access, and then overwrite-save, and so memories can be changed through your own perceptions and/or others' opinions, etc.  The past twelve years for me however, has been a period of continually jumping back to video I took of 1990 and 1991, and so while time flows onward, those two years have taken on a kind of permanence (and clarity) in time as though they were - forevermore - a piece of current time.

One of the fundamentally different things about that pre-cell phone, pre-Internet, pre-smartphone era is that spaces were unmolested by continual interruption from outside information (and/or disinformation).  If you arranged to meet someone, you needed to be at a certain place at a certain time.  Often you would arrange to meet at a train station, and for times when someone didn't show up at the designated time, there were message boards where you could write say, "Hiro - we waited for 30 minutes... we're going on to the restaurant" or whatever.  Being able to receive messages from those in transit about being late is definitely a nice feature of modern portable telecommunication devices... however...:

Fast forward (a tape-era term, do post-tape people still use it?) to a coffee shop; jazz music playing from records (not CD's) via a quality sound system.  You're sitting across from someone you want to spend time with.  You look at each other and begin talking about one thing or another (periodically glancing around the room at the other people in the space), and if the chemistry is right, the time is magical and cannot be interrupted by anyone not in the coffee shop, since no-one is carrying wireless telecommunication devices.  No news, no phone calls or text messages from distant friends.  No interruptions in that exclusive space and time.  This is - for me - possibly the single biggest difference between life back then and now.  Now, wherever you are, typically any individual you are talking to considers messages via their microcomputer telecommunication device more important than whoever they are actually physically with.

The result is I've begun to just expect that the longest attention anyone will give an in-person conversation is five to ten seconds.  Anything longer than that and either their Internet-trained brains complain that a change of topic is overdue or a message comes in via their micro telecommunication device and they shift brain focus away from the human standing in front of them to the message on screen.  Few appear to comprehend the concept of long-term time management.  Any microseconds saved are cause for joyous celebration, and the long-term reality of time wasted through fragmentation and endless miscommunication is... overlooked?  Not understood?  Ignored?  Not conceptualized?  Something....

It occurs to me that my usage of "exclusive" might be misunderstood, so allow me to comment on dictionary usage (or non-usage) in the year 2019:

One of the problems with current language usage, I feel, is that too many people don't reference vocabulary beyond how they hear it being used around them, or how it's simplistically explained in pop-up boxes on their micro-computers, and those definitions - if user-group editable - are often at variance with the actual meaning of a word.  Of course the meaning of words shifts over time, but if the definitions of words are considered to be only a matter of opinion, then we might as well just grunt at each other.  Printed dictionaries (or non-editable electronic versions of printed dictionaries) really ought to be the way to reference vocabulary.  A lot of time and effort goes into compiling printed dictionaries and their definitions are not changed on a whim.  As a way of coming to agreement regarding what any given word actually means, they should be paid attention to.  All of that said, let's have a look at a dictionary definition of "exclusive" (from the "Longman Advanced American Dictionary" - [2000]): exclusive - 1. available to only one person or group, and not shared

There are a number of other definitions, but that's #1 and that's the concept of "In a Space Exclusively".  A space for the people in that space, not shared with whoever (or whatever) has a telecommunications link with someone inside.

Regarding the dictionary I referenced... I have a lot of dictionaries actually, but that one was most readily at hand while writing this.  I'm pretty sure any respectable/reliable dictionary will have a similar definition for that term (along with other definitions too of course).  I would look it up on-line as well, but I'm writing this off-line.  You really need to do that if you want to focus on something exclusively....

Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon
www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/
youtube.com/lylehsaxon
lylehsaxon.blogspot.jp/
lookback1997.blogspot.jp/

More 1990 and 2019 - Here and There

August 2019... having a little more time for this post than usual, I invested some of that time in picture selection and placement, so the pictures - for the most part - match up (generally, not exactly) with the video links they are near.  A few pictures are randomly placed, but not many.

Mt. Takao - I don't have much time for traveling, so I really appreciate how close (and convenient) Mt. Takao is to Tokyo.  Well... Mt. Takao is Tokyo actually - part of it, so close to the developed part of Tokyo I should say.

JEV-63 曇の一人旅 Cloudy Day Cable Car 190708
https://youtu.be/NC5bqR1FC6E

JEV-64 高尾山はいいですね Comments on Ride to Mt Takao 190708
https://youtu.be/DC5GAHD9Vb0

I'm not entirely sure, but this particular trip on the cable car might have been the first time I went up and was the only passenger on the ride....

2019 Night Descent Cable Car 190708
https://youtu.be/6F80HTCmUp4

2019 高尾駅で中央線の到着 夜の様子 Takao Station Chuo Line 190708
https://youtu.be/2d3mZS0j_2k

2019 反射と直接 190708
https://youtu.be/44LwDNqDwQY

2019 日野市 夜の道 Hino Night Street 190708
https://youtu.be/a_nFlliZSuU

2019 夜の出発を待っている間と次の駅まで 190708
https://youtu.be/pZnlQTyFVuM

Okay, here's a random picture - from December 1990, taken in Shinjuku Station near the South Exit.  One difference between then and now is that they have been putting more and more shops within the stations, so there is less open space now than before (within the station that is).

2019 窓を開けると光の夜は美しいです 190708
https://youtu.be/Q8vRSuRs5_s

It used to be really common to open some of the windows on the trains when the weather was nice, but it's pretty rare now - largely due to a certain percentage of the population who seem to be absolutely terrified of fresh air....

2019 新宿の線路下の横断歩道 西側から東側へ Shinjuku 190709
https://youtu.be/S4KReNK6pWY

2019 新宿東側の夕方人々 Evening People in Shinjuku 190709n
https://youtu.be/BOp0soLIKEM

2019 新宿夕暮れエスカレータ Shinjuku Twilight Escalator 190709
https://youtu.be/etfa7UTEBuo

2019 中央線前の風景 御茶ノ水駅-神田駅-東京駅 Chuo Line View 190711
https://youtu.be/uT6pyA-6KuU

2019 下り階段 Going Downstairs 190711
https://youtu.be/-FtOQfqdi7c

2019 東京駅で電車を待っている間 Waiting for a Train at Tokyo Station 190711 - https://youtu.be/VZN-rOmvBBw

2019 ホームと反射と京浜東北線と山手線 東京駅 190711g
https://youtu.be/vOpiFiOR6ec

2019 東京駅-有楽町駅-新橋駅-浜松町駅-田町駅-品川駅 山手線 前向き 190711 - https://youtu.be/pqpxmMfnir4

1990 箱根湯本駅から登る電車を乗る 箱根登山鉄道 901202
https://youtu.be/kdzZx5rMUOY

1990 強羅駅とその辺り 箱根登山鉄道 Gora Station Area 901202
https://youtu.be/PXOKglpqsE8

1990 箱根登山ケーブルカー 強羅駅-早雲山駅 箱根登山鉄道 901202
https://youtu.be/92DkjbzkFSs

2019 夜の京王ライナー Keio Liner at Night 190716
https://youtu.be/QVNwVOmcSUI

2019 田町駅-品川駅 山手線 右側の開いてる窓から 190718
https://youtu.be/1PufePEOCjk

JV-65 電車の安全感に対して 190718
https://youtu.be/y5en-kAz1X0

JV-66 観光人たちに対して 程々はいいが今はちょっと多い と思う 190718
https://youtu.be/TpJmcSt8NQI

Tourism... to a point is a great thing - people can get away from their usual routines and experience another culture, but at this point in history, there are too many very large aircraft with too many seats sold very cheaply, and hordes of people are pouring into various tourist destinations in the world - disrupting life there for the locals, driving up rents (thanks to the despicable practice of turning apartments into sneaky hotels, etc.) and as it is now, tourism is generally not a good thing at all.  It's irritating and resented at present and is on the verge of becoming downright despised (or intensely hated?... how to describe the feeling....)  Too many outsiders bumbling around interfering in people's day-to-day lives is not a good thing at all.  Back before the flood, you would see a tourist and say hello, and ask where they were from, etc.  Now when you see one, you tend to think "Another bloody tourist...."

EV-66 Tourists - Fine in Moderation - These Days Though 190718
https://youtu.be/yojOTaPX0l0

2019 有楽町広場へ向かって Walking to Plaza in Yurakucho 190718
https://youtu.be/gXLo6UBc6aU

EV-67 Few Tourists in Early Nineties Due to Exchange Rate 190718
https://youtu.be/t9RQCyuXU-A

Regarding EV-67 - I made that one to mention how there were more tourists both before and after the bubble economy years.  What happened is that when the yen suddenly strengthened dramatically, tourism fell off due to Japan being much more expensive to visit than people were used to.  What's changed is airfare has come down-down-down and people travel on the cheap now - staying at sneaky hotels, etc.  The reason I got onto that is that I get comments from time-to-time about how few foreigners there seem to have been in 1990-91 Tokyo, and the comments are generally along the lines of "It must have been nice before the flood of tourists came...."

JV-68 雰囲気が感じると時間関係の違いが敏感になる 190718
https://youtu.be/Z3soWtPBKGw

EV-68 Perception of Atmosphere Key to Time Related Change 190718
https://youtu.be/GHjFqNt6ug4

2019 - 1934 Stairs 190718
https://youtu.be/3WuSWohUj9U

2019 夜の銀座 横道から大通りまで Ginza Side street Stroll 190718
https://youtu.be/W8mv-MBM4h0

2019 夜の外堀通り 190718
https://youtu.be/xnGW9mJz9TU

2019 京橋へ向かう 赤信号 190718
https://youtu.be/hnAUEYGziE4

2019 大通りの夜 京橋 190718
https://youtu.be/OBbk-MJXPuw

2019 夜の京橋 空き地など Nighttime Kyobashi 190718
https://youtu.be/Udrh5lTA51w

2019 四ツ谷駅で丸ノ内線を乘る 新型車両2000系 Marunouchi Line 190720
https://youtu.be/m9jncC3I-nU

2019 丸ノ内線 新型車両2000系 赤坂見附駅-国会議事堂前駅-霞ヶ関駅 190720 - https://youtu.be/LOOWBB6CEFc

EV-69 Getting Into the Flow 190723
https://youtu.be/Itg9rTtMJWk

JV-69 東京の流れと駅の古い懐かしい所 190723
https://youtu.be/zeZcaf-jeNE

2019 霞ヶ関駅 日比谷線 Kasumigaseki Station Hibiya Line 190723
https://youtu.be/UE-BsRXkkUs

2019 銀座のビル工事 Ginza Building Construction 190723
https://youtu.be/WkcsBltu6BM

JV-70 使ったカメラの話 190723
https://youtu.be/pQOuI9Z95Qk

EV-70 Brief Explanation of Equipment Used 190723
https://youtu.be/5Kgwcs9ewnQ

2019 京橋二丁目 平日の裏道 Kyobashi Side Street 190723
https://youtu.be/s7u1iJcXZS8

2019 京橋駅-日本橋 銀座線 Kyobashi to Nihonbashi - Ginza Line 190723
https://youtu.be/iACGfqxOFq4

2019 秋葉原 ビル工事とか Akihabara Building Construction Etc 190723
https://youtu.be/HtEC8TjeUk0

2019 Waiting Under a Bridge 190723
https://youtu.be/Pp5IIHdQ41s

2019 新宿 Trains in the Twilight 190723
https://youtu.be/Ozqm3HBpxOg

2019 夕暮れの新宿駅南口 Twilight Shinjuku 190723
https://youtu.be/V_0WvdszJyY

2019 御茶ノ水 The Tree 190723
https://youtu.be/fsd4G4hgOes

2019 新宿 夕暮れ南口辺り Twilight Shinjuku 190723
https://youtu.be/PhoTMsKE98E

2019 渋谷 西側の見回る ビルの工事など Shibuya West Side 190725
https://youtu.be/fQkt5w-Z2ks

Regarding this picture (above).  I hate it.  It's a terrible picture, but since there are plans to tear that building down, I decided to use it for its content value.  There are content pictures and picture-pictures.  Picture-pictures don't need to have any special content, they just need to be good pictures.  Ideally, a photo is both artistically good and has some content... unfortunately with this photo above, it has only content.  I mention all that, because normally I wouldn't use such a poorly composed picture....
- Now, the picture below - is better, and pairs with the photo above since this is a view of the building's roof.  This whole rooftop area used to be full of chairs and tables and crowded with people enjoying a beer with yakitori, etc. under nighttime summer skies....

2019 渋谷古いデパートの階段 Shibuya Stairs 190725
https://youtu.be/6AT8BqnDkPQ

2019 渋谷駅 外回りのホームで山手線が来るまで Shibuya Station 190725
https://youtu.be/URF1KTWhvEw

JV-71 町田の使えないエレベーター 190726
https://youtu.be/2WkaJgNnAfc

EV-71 Machida Old Building Elevators 190726
https://youtu.be/0mErztd4JMs

2019 JR町田駅へ向かう 夜の二階通路 Walking to JR Machida Station 190726n - https://youtu.be/8n4RWFyuVOg

2019 渋谷屋上の見回る Rooftop in Shibuya 190725
https://youtu.be/OP-0YCWU7DE

2019 町田の道 散策散歩 ア Machida Streets 190726
https://youtu.be/3GuGO5f8tTc

2019 町田の道 散策散歩 イ Machida Streets 190726
https://youtu.be/m_Wqv-Z4X4w

2019 小田急町田駅隣踏切 電車々と人々 Trains at Machida RR Crossing 190726 - https://youtu.be/FW613ezaYaE

2019 渋谷駅内古いデパート Shibuya Station Department Store 190725
https://youtu.be/HxEKN5rDH_4

2019 渋谷駅-原宿駅 山手線 Shibuya to Harajuku - Yamanote Line 190725
https://youtu.be/WOkpm1MrYgE

2019 原宿駅-代々木駅-新宿駅 山手線 Harajuku to Shinjuku - Yamanote Line 190725 - https://youtu.be/znIgiaGssVU

2019 町田POPビル一階 ア Machida POP Building 1F 190726
https://youtu.be/kL0BFVwIIaE

2019 町田POPビル一階 イ Machida POP Building 1F 190726
https://youtu.be/96GzhI_RIyo

1990 箱根 早雲山駅から別荘散歩と山にハイキング Hakone Hiking 901202
https://youtu.be/E5HxSgjuEXI

1990 早雲山駅-強羅駅 箱根登山鉄道 Hakone Cable Car 901202
https://youtu.be/VlS3zLdXIr0

2019 神田駅 ホームの様子 山手線の出発と京浜東北線の到着 190802
https://youtu.be/KXtsIHdAXkw

2019 神田駅-東京駅-有楽町駅-新橋駅 京浜東北線 Kanda to Shinbashi 190802 - https://youtu.be/qtK4P9X17K8

2019 浜松町駅-田町駅 京浜東北線 Hamamatsucho to Tamachi 190802
https://youtu.be/LbhB_fL_yFo

2019 田町駅-品川駅-大井町駅 京浜東北線 Tamachi to Oimachi 190802
https://youtu.be/d8oFMxyOy8Y

2019 朝早くの大井町裏道 Oimachi Early Morning Narrow Lanes 190802 https://youtu.be/AAhc5ERoF0A

JV-72 ストリートの動画はますます撮りづらくなっている 190802
https://youtu.be/XQ9B5T-H2tU

EV-72 Street Videography Increasingly Difficult 190802
https://youtu.be/0glQoWElzLA

2019 人が歩いている People Walking 190802
https://youtu.be/_s5oNvH3avU

JV-73 防犯カメラ時代 190802
https://youtu.be/Jjw4N1smJns

EV-73 Security Camera Era 190802
https://youtu.be/fjri-HJOIn4

2019 暑い日 電車来るまで待っている 大井町駅で 190802
https://youtu.be/RJtnLmrG1DE

2019 大井町駅-品川駅-田町駅-浜松町駅-東京駅 快速京浜東北線 190802
https://youtu.be/UzW4d7LPlZw

2019 下り京王線 窓からの風景 Outbound Keio Line 190803
https://youtu.be/J1Tf5FDDmPI

2019 八王子のある道 バスが通る テナント なんとか 190803
https://youtu.be/uktJl7gnz6E

2019 八王子まつりの夕方横断歩道 Hachioji Matsuri Evening 190803n
https://youtu.be/dMSJA91ggEQ

2019 八王子北口 八王子まつりの夕方 Hachioji Matsuri Evening 190803
https://youtu.be/RESyJOBDRHg

2019 八王子 夕暮れの北口横断歩道橋 Hachioji Twilight 190803
https://youtu.be/yvN21VPp7xk

2019 八王子駅前二階広場 夕暮れの見回る Hachioji Twilight 190803
https://youtu.be/pdHMC3hBjFk

1990 湿気が高いので Packaging for High Humidity 901203
https://youtu.be/IOl4o4xMk_M

1990 ひばりが丘-池袋駅-新宿駅-西新宿 Hibarigaoka to Shinjuku 901204
https://youtu.be/Gtly1t8HRrI

1990 新宿東口-池袋駅-ひばりヶ丘駅 Shinjuku to Hibarigaoka 901204
https://youtu.be/AbQTjcUDO80

Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon

www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/

youtube.com/lylehsaxon

lylehsaxon.blogspot.jp/

lookback1997.blogspot.jp/