natasha nakamura's diary

Thursday, sitar concert by Ayumu Suetsugu in the living quarters for bachelor British diplomats in Yokohama, a serious stone structure with English fireplaces, built in 1937. I was entranced and after the interval insinuated myself right up at the front to sit cross-legged on the carpet. Everyone else remained in their folding chairs. Perhaps we should have dimmed the lights and lit some incense.

Afterwards, dinner in Chinatown built around Shanghai crabs at a wonderful new restaurant called Sai where all the waitresses are bright and charming Chinese.

Friday. Interesting new place in Shibuya called J.--pronounced "J, Period". Japanese craftwork, not exquisite and hardly expensive: bowls and incense burners. These are things that would evoke a certain feeling of nostalgia in friends in New York and Paris who don't know the really good (and really expensive) stuff. It's so easy to become cynical…