WELCOME TO TOKYO.

[tokyodisa]

Who: Everybody!
What: Tokyo Day One
When: Tuesday, 16/July -- starting at midnight
Where: Paradisa Hotel in downtown Tokyo
Rating: kawaii

Maybe you were asleep in bed last night. Maybe you were out on the town. Or maybe you were working on something super cool, which you didn't really need to be disrupted by, oh, say a world change or anything else stupid.

Too bad for you, that's just what happened.

At the stroke of midnight, everyone will find themselves back in their assigned castle rooms -- except they're not exactly the same as they were left…

[ ROOMS | RESTAURANT & BAR | FITNESS CENTER | LOBBY & GIFT SHOP | COURTYARD ]

[this log is only for the hotel! if you'd like to explore tokyo, feel free to set up your own logs and posts.]

Comments

[heloise]

[ She chuckles. ]

Then, instead of saying so, they do-- [ And she tries to mimic him. Terribly. ]

[unvarnished]

[he laughs] That's the idea, more or less. It's pretty clear we aren't from here, but I'm sure they'll appreciate the effort.

[heloise]

Then try I shall.

But tell me, what do you most love about the city?

[unvarnished]

I like the more traditional parts of it, like the Shinto shrines, and all the stories of samurai. One of the most famous samurai is a man named Miyamoto Musashi. He later went on to write books that people are still reading today.

[heloise]

What is a Samurai? A warrior or a poet?

[ Those are the ones who are immortalized after all. ]

[unvarnished]

Sometimes both. They were the protectors of the nobility, unless they were ronin samurai. Ronins are samurai without masters, so they could be hired out by anyone.

There are lots of great stories about samurai.

[heloise]

[ She leans forward to rest her chin on her hands. ]

Tell me one tale, dear storyteller.

[unvarnished]

My lady, it would be my honor.

There once was a ronin samurai without a sword. How he lost his sword, the man would never say. Many suspected that he was dishonored homehow. That was why he was ronon: no one would hire a saumurai who lost his honor. But this man didn't seem to mind. He just kept going from house to house looking for any work.

The only work he could find was in the Shinto shrines. He scrubbed the floors and polished the idols. Work for a servant, not for a samurai. But he didn't seem to mind. He worked hard and left when his job was finished.

And still he was a samurai without a sword.

[heloise]

[ Lucrezia watches him intently as he speaks, as if the way he moves his lips is more telling than the words uttered. ]

Is he working to earn enough to buy himself a sword?

[unvarnished]

[and maybe it is, since he would smile or frown depending on the mood of the story]

Ah, but no one would sell a sword to a dishonored samura. It seemed that this ronin was forever fated to be servant of the gods.

But then one day he came to a Shinto shrine where an old man was paying respect to the gods. The man was very old and tired, so the samurai gave the old man his cloak to use as a blanket.

The old man said, "Thank you for your kindness, sir. You honor the guards and now the gods will honor you. Take this with my thanks." He offered the samurai a stick. Puzzled, the samurai accepted the strange offering. And when he touched it, the stick transformed into a sword! A sword more beautiful and deadly than the one he lost. Overwhelmed, he tried to thank the old man but found him gone.

The samurai later used that sword to save many villages from oppression. And whenever he could, he gave his thanks to the gods and the mysterious old man.

[heloise]

[ This one seems a sad one to her however, though she is still holding out hope that it would end well. The best stories should, otherwise it would be too much like life. God knows they have all had too much of that. ]

And the name of this good Samurai, August?

[unvarnished]

Yagami Daigo. Or as we would call him in the west, Daigo Yagami. See, even his last name spoke of how the gods would bless him, since "Yagami" holds the word for "god".

[heloise]

Yagami Daigo. [ She thinks she would like to be called the way her family calls her, and perhaps it is likewise for the Japanese. ]

And which part of Yagami means God?

[unvarnished]

The second part, "gami". You write the kanji like this. [he uses his chopsticks to write it down on the table for her] I spent a lot of time here when I was traveling and learned the language.

[heloise]

[ She tries to memorize how his hand moved to make that invisible writing on the table, missing a stroke or two. ]

Is it the closest to home for you then? Or is that elsewhere?

[unvarnished]

The closest to home is back in the United States, in Maine.

[his tone changes when he even thinks about Storybrooke. It really is home for him: Emma, his father, Archie, Heny, the Blue Fairy... They would all be there]

[heloise]

How far is that from Tokyo?

[unvarnished]

On the other side of the world.

[heloise]

You could catch one of those flying [ ships? ] contraptions and go.

[unvarnished]

[oh, Lulu, he's thought about it. Just like he thought about it when they were in San Diego. The instinct to run is still there]

I can't. I have to stay here for Henry.

[heloise]

[ Lucrezia nods slowly, even if she doesn't understand. Henry is not his child and only blood would, possibly, keep her. ]

If those things could take me through time, I would waste not a single second to even speak with you.

[unvarnished]

[he smiles, taking another sip of tea] I wouldn't hold it against you. I'd miss you, though.

[heloise]

[ She bites back her grin. ]

Perhaps that thought would keep me.

[unvarnished]

If that means getting to see you more, I won't complain about it.

[heloise]

Do you mean that?