Les Archives du Cœur (The Heart Archive)

Bird Lady calls me 御兄さん, oniisan (brother / young man).
I see her almost every morning near my apartment when I walk to Kyoto station. She stops to tell me how much she loves the birds and always comments on how cute they are.
Bird Lady tells me that she is 75 years old.
She wears bright red lipstick and her raven-black hair is heavily waxed back into a tight bun.
Instead of breadcrumbs she gives me handfuls of 黒あめ kuro ame (black sugar candy famous in Japan since the 1860's) from an old silk kimono bag. When I insist that she doesn't need to give me candy, she forces them into my bag or pocket.

I see her almost every morning near my apartment. She calls me 御兄さん and gives me black sugar candy. The birds follow her from the aquarium until she reaches the bridge that the しんかんせん　shinkansen (bullet train) runs over. From there she vanishes and I don't see her until the next day.

On March 6, I went to Nara - Japan's ancient capital, to witness Shuni-e. This is one of the oldest festivals performed for national peace and prosperity and has been held every year since 752. That's an incredible 1261 years! Each night from March 1 - 14, large, burning pine torches are carried up a flight of stairs and run along the balcony of Nigatsu-do temple. Which is old - bloody old. And made of wood. Yes, wood! These huge fiery torches showered us below with giant sparks, believing we'd be protected from evil and granted a year of good health. Most of the time I was mentally focusing on my "stop, drop and roll" technique in order to avoid panic. By the end of it all, it turned out to be another beautifully surreal experience and I left Nara that evening happy and covered in ash.

Doing it with Elvis

Binaural recordings from my fifth floor apartment.
Saturday, 10 November 2012, 10:30.