It’s been a bit quiet on this side of Headphone Commute, but there is nothing to worry about – I’m simply away on vacation for nearly a month. I realized that I’ve put out an “Out of Office” message for all the labels and artists, but I didn’t let you, my loyal readers, know that I’ll be away for some time. So this is just a quick note to let you know that I”ll be back sometime in mid-June with more fantastic music to share. Meanwhile, here’s a little written postcard for you from Noboribetsu Onsen in Hokkaido. I hope the words are better than the picture.
I am sitting outside in a wooden bathtub big enough for only two people. I left my glasses in the changing room locker, so everything is slightly out of focus. Up on a small hill in front of me is an old Japanese evergreen tree surrounded by perfectly manicured bushes and late-blooming Sakura. The evening sun rays gently caress the red and yellow leaves bouncing off in radiant colours into a cloudless blue sky. Behind this red, green, and blue scenery is a collapsed mountain riddled with geysers spewing out hot sulphuric acid evaporate, wafting the smells of Jigokudani (literally “Hell Valley” pictured above) into the onsen. In front of this Ezo Spruce tree is a small open-air wooden hut. In the centre is a spinning wheel, onto which an aqueduct is dropping the hot water from the nearby hot spring. The water travels from this hut on the hill onto the wooden buckets and horizontally sliced bamboo pipes, arriving in my wooden bathtub. The hot steam is slowly rising from the pool and from my half-submerged body. Everything seems to be in slow motion, including the clockwise rotating round wooden table floating in the tub, which is holding a masu filled with sake. I pick it up and drink it, and everything gets even more out of focus. The sake is cold, light and crisp, and it’s permeated with the aroma of the cedar box. The only sounds I hear are those of the running water and the pulsating blood near my temples and ears, pumping with the rhythm of my heart. In my peripheral vision, there are drifting naked bodies lost in their own journey through time. The cold evening breeze licks the sweat drops off my reddened skin, and my body gradually dissolves in the sulphur. Everything’s more out of focus, I am floating through the experience of being, and suddenly, in that very short moment of time, everything seems to be just fine…
