A Step Forward
The wind blew heavily through the streets, which were packed fully with cars. This wasn't like the rush of the traffic in Boston or New York, this was the overly crowded streets of Tokyo. Tokyo, Japan, where he finally made it to. It wasn't the time to question what he was doing here, but rather a time to take a step forward into his developing life. Dan had all that he needed with him. His trusty guitar slung across his back and his pack of cigarettes in the jacket pocket. His leather jacket did little to protect him from the elements though, as the December weather in Tokyo wasn't as good as he had hoped for. He could only dream of snow, but instead, it was a cold rain that dropped steadily on his uncovered head as he stumbled through these streets looking for some kind of shelter. The rain pounded heavily into his hair and he trudged through it and through the mass crowd that walked around him. This was Japan, the land of the Rising Sun.
"God dammit, where is that asshole?" Dan inquired, asking the question of himself rather than anyone that was around him. "Dammit... Matt knows I don't have a working cell phone here and yet he still pulls this shit on me."
Matt Meizer was supposed to meet Dan at the airport, but after waiting for two hours, Dan was fed up with the situation and took off on his own, trying to find his way through the strange sea of Japanese that flowed so precariously through the building. Narita Airport wasn't the most confusing place to get through, it was the fact that there was a specific train to catch and a specific currency to exchange. Not to mention the lack of a Japanese cell phone, which would be required to communicate with anyone on the island. He thought his luck was fully run out until he met a couple of English tourists who had also come to Japan for a visit, but seemed to know a lot more about the country than him. They showed him where to go for exchanging currency and explained carefully, which trains to take to the appropriate destination, which was Kameido for him. The number of trains he'd have to take intimidated him a bit, but the newly acquired acquaintances of his helped him figure it all out. It also helped a bit that some of the names of train stations were written in English alongside with the Japanese. So after about 2 hours of train traveling, he was here, in the middle of Tokyo, walking in a direction he wasn't all to sure of, to a destination he didn't quite know how to find.
The rain had darkened the skies significantly and the bright neon of all the signs really stood out to Dan as he walked through the street, trying to avoid getting hit by cars. Each building was tall and very bright and colorful and the atmosphere was very loud and lively in general. He was impressed. Every street corner had a vending machine with some familiar beverages, such as Coca Cola, and of course some very bizarre ones, like BOSS coffee. He fished in his pocket for a couple of coins to try out a new drink. A 500¥ coin popped out, which he promptly pushed into the vending machine's coin slot. Out came his BOSS drink and 350¥ in change that he readily threw back into his pocket. Dan looked a bit further ahead and saw a familiar site, the 7/11 convenience store, which he started slowly jogging to, since it actually had somewhat of an awning to shield him from the rain. As he got closer he saw the bright lights on the inside, but decided to stay out in the rain a little longer, and smoke his favorite cigarette. Standing under the cover, he stood his guitar against the wall and popped open the can of coffee in his hands. It was black with no sugar and not to mention, cold. Yet after a long fourteen hour flight, he needed something to keep him awake and not passing out in the street.
Lighting up his cigarette he slowly glanced around the area and observed the moving commotion around him. He generally noticed that the Japanese public didn't pay much attention to him and walked with their own purpose in mind. Occasionally a child would look at him and then say something to his or her parent, who would in turn shush them and motion them to move along quietly. He supposed that his appearance didn't look all too friendly to the natives. Glancing over his shoulder into the store behind him, he noticed that there were a lot of umbrellas on sale inside and he decided that if he were to move on, one would be necessary. To his left he saw a cigarette disposal receptacle and putting the cigarette out on his boot, he tossed it into the can. Picking up his guitar, he proceeded to walk through the automatic door into the store, where he was greeted by Japanese, which he couldn't understand, but only made out as some sort of a welcome, "Irashaimase!". He smiled and nodded in return clearly showing that he had no idea what the attendants of the store had said.
The store didn't look too different from his overall knowledge of 7/11s in the US. There were a number of isles with different products and coolers on the sides with a magazine rack that stood right next to the window, which he had been leaning against from the outside. As he approached the rack, he saw a number of Japanese magazines and other paraphernalia, some of which he could tell were clearly pornographic, but exposed nonetheless. Walking through the rest of the store, he noticed a number of Japanese snacks, drinks, and other varieties of convenience store goods along with an ATM machine in the corner. Picking up an "Onigiri" snack from one of the fridge units, he approached the register. Dan noticed an umbrella rack on the floor next to the check out counter and decided that he may as well buy one, since it was still pouring outside. The conversation at the counter was completely foreign to him, but in the end, the total of 500¥ showed up on the register's computer and he silently fished into his pockets, looking for the required coinage. After paying for his supplies, he quietly walked out of the store and looked in a random direction to keep walking in, since he was still not completely aware of where he needed to be.
The sky seemed to be getting even darker now as Dan glanced down at his watch, which was still set to his US time of three thirty in the morning, while here in Japan, it was actually getting to be five thirty in the evening. He was becoming incredibly tired as he hadn't been able to get a wink of sleep on the plane. The thought of his friend Matt not showing up, really pissed Dan off even more as he continued to trudge through the bustling street. The shops on the sides seemed very familiar to him, but the writings on the walls were strange and unfamiliar to him. The "Onigiri" snack he had purchased earlier, wasn't nearly enough to satiate his hunger, which still persisted ever since he got off the plane, some three hours earlier. With not much money in his pocket, there was little he could do currently except hope for some kind of miracle, though he knew that this wasn't a fairy tale, and something like that was highly unlikely to happen. As he continued walking, a funny thought came to him; it was more of an idea. He thought back to how some people made money if they had no jobs, but a talent to offer; he remembered that he still had his guitar with him, which could theoretically help him out in this situation.
Whether or not it was delirium, he wasn't going to try to figure out. He found another awning for some not-so-fancy restaurant and sat down on the little window ledge, taking out his guitar, a Gibson Les Paul. An authentic one, not some two-bit fake. He strummed a couple of notes to himself, which made very little coherent sound to anyone passing by. Then, leaving his guitar case open on the ground in front of him, he started slowly playing a tune, which had a certain sad feel to it, as it reflected his current emotions for his current situation. The music flowed through him and the surrounding area could really feel the kind of feelings that Dan presently held. No words needed to be sung as he continued to strum his guitar in a beautiful melodic composition. It was surprising how good an electric guitar could sound without actually being hooked up to an amp of any sort and in this damper rainy environment.
Dan knew he had a talent. Dan had been playing this instrument since his teenage years and had become a perfectionist in the art. This was how he got to know Matt as well, since the two of them had originally formed a band, known as "Black Iris", a name insisted on, by Matt, who was the original founder of their group. This was what his high school years had amounted to. He didn't have good grades, he didn't have a great social life, but he did have his guitar and his band, which perfected their own kind of sound. They started out on covers, like most bands usually did, but eventually, Dan started writing his own music, while Matt came up with amazing lyrics to accompany it. Matt was the lead vocalist and as such, he upheld the principles of his position. However, as with everything, good things had to come to an end eventually and suddenly that thing called the future caught up with everyone. Everyone except Dan that is. While all the band members had their own individual plans, which did not revolve around the creation of music, Dan still held on to his new dream of being in a top band, creating beautiful music to share with people everywhere. Some went to college, others went abroad, but Dan stayed put, perfecting his art. During their four years in the band together, Matt and Dan forged a friendship that would last for a long time, but was definitely being tested on this particular evening. Matt's aspirations were to travel abroad and discover new places, but how he ended up in Japan, was surprising even to him. With Dan's decision of not going to college and continuing his dream of playing music, his father all but disowned him and he had to get out of the States. The opportunity to see a new country and reunite with his old high school friend, presented itself as the ideal solution to his problem.
At this present moment though, he sat on this window sill, under an awning, and kept strumming his guitar, not really hoping for anything in particular, just to further practice his craft. Music had a way of soothing everyone's emotions, making them forget about the harder aspects of their life, of their past, of their future. Dan utilized this to its full extent. The one song that constantly brought him back to his peace of mind was a famous John Lennon song from many years before, called Imagine. He remembered back to the first time he actually heard the song, which was a bit humorous in itself, as it had been while he was watching a rerun of an old 90s serial, Quantum Leap. The song moved him and it became his anthem so to say. And thus, his guitar suddenly started humming the melody of Imagine while he carried the essence of John Lennon through his voice. The general public was slowly passing him by and it all started looking like a blur, but with the song playing from his fingertips, the troubles of the world just melted away from him, so much so, that he didn't notice the fact that a small crowd was starting to gather around him as he continued to play the song. They were generally younger looking people, teenagers mostly, but they seemed to enjoy what he was playing for them. It wasn't a large crowd, but it was enough of a crowd to cause a disturbance for the owner of the small restaurant that Dan was playing in front of.
As Dan's solo came to an end, he looked up from his guitar to find the new audience that he had gathered. It was a bit embarrassing for him, since these were not people who he was at all familiar with, but he realized that there was nothing shameful about playing beautiful music in front of all kinds of people. The small audience burst in a small amount of applause in front of him, while he shook his head, trying to say that it wasn't necessary. There were slight murmurs in the unknown language, around Dan, but he assumed they enjoyed what they had heard, so he was about to start performing his next number.
As he began to slowly strum the guitar once more, there came a noise from the door to the restaurant whose window sill he had been occupying. Out came a short, stubby, and disgruntled looking middle-aged man, saying something intangible to Dan, in his language. Dan didn't need to understand Japanese to understand that the man wasn't pleased with his street performance and most likely wanted him to get out of there. The crowd that had gathered around Dan, was slowly starting to dissipate, but he noticed that a couple of them tossed some 50, 100, and even a few 500¥ coins into this guitar case. It wasn't much, but it was enough to give Dan a bit of a smile on his face. He quickly picked up his coins, threw them into his pockets and packed up his guitar. Then, awkwardly speaking to the store owner, he apologized, thinking the man probably didn't understand a word coming out of his mouth anyway.
At the sight of the hurried young man, the store owner chuckled a bit and said in a broken English, "No probrem, but no pray here."
Dan was a bit confused at the pronunciations, but got the gist of what the man was saying and fishing into his pockets, he gave the store owner a 500¥ coin to pay for his unscheduled performance. The old man was a bit surprised by this action and motioned for Dan to wait a bit as he went back inside the store. He came out a few minutes later with a few more onigiri in his hands and gave them to Dan. He felt a bit awkward about accepting these pieces of food, but couldn't decline it, as he was still hungry. He thanked the man, bowed to him, and hurriedly went off on his way. Bowing seemed so cliché, but he thought that maybe it was the proper way to do things in this country.
'Where the hell is that bastard?' thought Dan to himself as he continued to trudge down the street in the rain. He looked around some more and his eyes happened to land upon a billboard that was looming over him. He didn't know how much that billboard would effect his immediate future, but the advertisement for the band Red Sky seemed a bit daunting to him at that glance.
