6:51am Japan:

I’m feeling like a lion with a thorn in my paw. In part because of my silly sunburn. I have an odd off-center “V” sunburn line on my chest from the shirt I wore Saturday, but the worst is my upper back. It has taught me that I am “vanilla” and simply need to accept it. The leather strap of my purse pulling and rubbing against the red, sore, chapped skin is just excruciating. Not good, not exciting, just ow. I feel a bit bad – I got pretty cranky by the end of the night yesterday. I was nearly in tears by the time we went into the ramen restaurant. The more I think about it, I think it’s quite largely my fault and that I need to work on my communication with Alex. I need to say bluntly, loudly, and often what I need until it gets done. On the way to Akemi’s (where we spend the night and where I’m writing from now, I think I saw my first yakuza. The area of Osaka where Akemi lives is near an area that lookslike what is portrayed in films seen in America. Tiny narrow streets with tall buildings, packed with shops, neon lights, with having to leap out of the way of cars and cyclists. Most of the cars will slow down. At one point a black Mercedes honks loudly and zips past comparatively quickly after we jump to the side into the six inches of clearance between the dozens of bikes parked against the building and the space the car needed. The car slowed down enough for Alex to nod (polite greeting like) at the driver and for the driver to do so in return. The windows looked tinted but I could see two young men wearing white t-shirts/undershirts. I tried to look for tattoos but no luck. It has been explained to me that one of the initiation rites for the yakuza is a full “shirt” tattoo, one that can be covered by a short-sleeve t-shirt, but takes up all the skin underneath. So many public/hotel pools and onzen/hot springs don’t allow people with tattoos because they don’t want to be seen as a place where gangsters congregate. It came up in conversation with Mr. Takei how few tattoo parlors there are here, which prompted me to look for them. I’ve found four so far here in Osaka, but it is Japan’s... I believe third largest city.