Thursday, the 19th of November was my real first day. Nothing special happened. I went for a walk in the Roppongi area just to see, look, feel. Get lost of course but it was part of the game for this first day: to get lost. It works quite well. Everything is new. Everything is attractive. I am like an idiot in the street looking at everything from the architecture, the street signs, the way people dressed, the shoes of the street workers. A real naive person in the street. I entered every bookstore to check out the magazines. There are articles about Takashi Murakami everywhere. Checked the Mangas and went back to the International House to meet with Georg Kochi, my host from the Asian Cultural Council. He is a very nice person who grew up in Los Angeles. He gave me advice. told me about the program. Says hello to Kathy H.		The International House is very nice. A 50's modernist building. Wood and concrete. Nice. With a very good international Library and a beautiful Japanese garden. I'll make some photographs soon. At 2pm went to the French Embassy to meet Emmanuelle who took me to a store and bought me a cell phone in order to locate me. No need to say that I was willing to buy everything, from the self massage tools to the rice cooker. Ran into a taxi with maps in hand to visit Miki Okabe from the Japan Foundation at the Ark Mori Towers. Miki is also my host. The program being a joined one between ACC and Japan Foundation. Miki is working on my schedule. Lisa Middag in Minneapolis would understand that it means a nightmare -- between the thing I will certainly forget, and the overlapping meetings I will organize by myself. But I'll try to behave. So far it works. I have been a good boy.		Back to the International House (IH) and went randomly to have dinner in a small restaurant. I just put my finger on the menu and expect that anything could happen. Anything in this case was some dry fish and sashimi. Good, very good. At this point I still feel a little shy regarding the city. Nevertheless I was feeling very comfortable. When one lives in Minneapolis it is so GOOD to see thousand of people in the streets, pushing each other to find their way, to hear a lot of noise to be, it might a clichˇ, like in Blade Runner. It might be "Spoon Walker" in my case, that first night.