Being deported to a country with no knowledge of the language leaves you at the mercy of tourists or the good will of locals. Most Japanese professionals in Tokyo speak very good English, but will deny they speak a word if asked questions by someone they don’t know. This means that outside of drunken girls looking to hook up, the other people eager to talk to you are either con artists or creeps. Which despite its reputation as a sophisticated and progressive society… Japan has it’s share of criminals. At the airport you may come across smiling men eager to give directions and walk with you, they aren’t doing this for free. They will get aggressive about payment. Same thing with fake Buddhist or Hindu priests who will follow you trying to make conversion or lunge at you placing a good luck charm in your hand and demand money.

浅草寺 (Sensōji, Asakusa temple) is behind a couple long rows of tourist stands selling wind chimes, small buddha statues, carved fish and brass coins. Among the crowd were several smiling grifters preying on the lost and foreign looking rabble. Furyo didn’t have a polite reaction. The first time he was accosted by a fake Hare Krishna in a saffron robe, following him and asking intrusive questions… He ignored the man. The second time he was followed by a mousy little man who was happy to sit with him and answer a million questions, then said Furyo owed him 1000 yen, roughly 10 bucks American. Furyo laughed and spun off, leaving the man grabbing at his sleave and demanding 500 yen. Furyo turned to sock the man in the mouth but as he recoiled back to swing, the man ran off yelling for police. Furyo took this time to lose the man’s line of sight and relax beside the temple where there was a calm stream full of orange koi.

Seeing the con artist he had tried to punch looking through the crowd to snitch on him. Furyo kept his head down and like a gypsy professional shoplifter, grabbed a traditional style bamboo farmer hat from a rack and melted into the endless streams of tourists until he was behind the temple and ducked inside. In the shrine it was very smoky from incense and candles. Large angry guardians stood to each side of the door and the interior put him in awe. Gold statues and perfumed wood carved inside was beyond what he could have expected. It was magical but the streams of gawking tourists made him feel rushed to get back outside. Seeing the cops walking away from the conman and back out towards the gift shops, Furyo decides to explore a different area, the opposite way from the station. Furyo really want to check out the statues of 雷神 Raijin and 風神 Fujin, the temple guardians off to each side of the entrance.

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Among manicured bonsai trees and buildings that likely stood when this was the feudal capitol of the Tokugawa Shogunate, he found little art studios, dance and kempo studios where masked swordsmen practiced with bamboo swords. He was feeling hungry and wondered how he could find Cynthia’s apartment to get a meal and some loving. As that thought bounced around his head, he noticed a rowdy group of European students. He could hear something that wasn’t French or Spanish being spoken by the coeds. What drew his eye was the shady way they were dressed, like something out of a ウータン·クラン Ūtan Kuran (Wutang Clan) video, the paint stains on their clothes and familiar “clink” sound of スプレーペイント spray paint in their bags.

Silently merging into their group and into the middle of the ones leading the pack he says. “Aye, you fools do graffiti?” He must have looked strange in an old fashioned kimono, black low traditional farmers hat, swords and general air of Frisco hoodlum. The girls looked to the main ones shaking their heads as if even talking to Furyo would lead to some bad end, likely picturing Yakuza or Ninja movies. The main guys smiled and said, “Yeah, we are from Amsterdam, I write Basic, and this is Silver, Plaster and Daffey.” Furyo smiled and said. “Thats dope, I write Sadist, but I used to tag Crime and Budget too back in the 80’s.” This gets him in the group. They are super fascinated by his stories of SF back in the day, of prison and being deported. They have plans to get on some rooftops in Harajuku and have rented a panel van to get around the city.