(tent) Tokyo Diary 2: I Know No Other Dance

July, Rainy Day It’s been a while, but I try writing a haiku again. It’s a broken-verse kind of poem: “Loathing cockroach— I spray and spray but it keeps coming.” March, Sunny Day I’m riding the train. The person next to me is fervently tapping away at their phone. I can’t help but peek. The message says: “Maybe I just don’t have the courage to be loved.” Startled, I glance at the sender’s face. They look back, puzzled. Maybe it’s not so strange after all. I worry. Then think again— Maybe it is something to be surprised about. —from the text Dryly humorous, a little surreal, and always deeply human— these diary entries flow gently through the rhythms of everyday life. No lies here—four-fifths of it is true. The second volume of Hiromi Kawakami’s Tokyo Diary series, collecting entries from 2004 to 2007.