Walking alone, not walking alone

The best kept secret for tonight in Tokyo is that Spring is definitely coming. An unexpected errand brought be in the Yasukuni shrine district in the evening. Walking alone but in the company of souls. It's a matter of focusing while watching one's steps. Exactly a week ago, we buried Mother in a cemetery close to Paris. I don't want to cash on the pathos. I don't want to hide it either. So while walking alone, I decided to bring her with me for a while by the sheer power of mind. Walking does help do the trick. The shrine is closed at night but the large alley that leads to the main building is open. Not exactly eerie, not much beautiful (in daylight too, Yasukuni shrine is hardly a fantastic place..), but a welcome large open air space to walk through. Coming from Paris just the day before, the eyes are still requiring the symmetry a European city offers. Not much a local feature here in Tokyo. The landscape architect civil servants have had the good idea to bath Yasukuni in a yellow glow of projectors. But the avenue running along the Kudanshita slope is marred by bleak white street lights that exemplify the endemic incapacity to encompass the landscape into a symmetrical, coherent approach. Enough sentencing. This said, night walks are beginning again to be a pleasant and relaxing way to exhaust the pressure after a working day. If you are staying in a hotel around the Kudanshita - Iidbashi district and looking for one to two hours unusual stroll around, I will be your guide for a limited time - and for free - around March and April. Depaysement garanti! As an alternative, you can also walk alone and bring someone in your mind with you.