Tuesday, June 19, 2007
生活 - Tokyo 6.18.07
來到東京幾天令人感觸最多的，是對「生活」的觀察和體驗。人們上班、下班、乘公車換地鐵打手機短訊，白天薪水族或工讀生和老闆顧客鞠躬哈腰，下午鄰居主婦太太們喝茶聊天稱贊哪塊蛋糕是如何美味令人口齒留香，晚上和同事或同學們去居酒屋吃飯喝酒趕搭午夜終電電車 … 這一切的一切讓我驚奇。有時移動在下班時間人滿為患的新宿電車站裡，我猛然駐足，開始思考身邊的東京人們究竟是如何在如此龐大複雜的交通體系和移動速度飛快的城市步調裡，以極有效率和秩序的方式完成上述的種種事項 … 特別是當多數人能在邊走路邊騎單車之餘，仍不忘發送手機簡訊與電子郵件。
我相信每一個看似拘謹或嚴肅或充滿了保留的面孔背後，都有一則動人的故事，無論在公共領域裡它是如何低調地被掩飾或隱藏著。
這個動人的故事就是「生活」。
或許人們可以如此有秩序地完成每天忙碌且充滿了各種不同模式，敬語和階級關係的互動，是因為這一切的一切早已成為生活的一部分，一個充滿了熟悉感又富有規律的生活。
所以人們知道，若是站在第四車廂候車點等車的話，接下來在涉谷轉車的時候可以直接上手扶梯由南口出去；或是如果都乘坐京王線電車而不經由山手線轉車的話，即使途中要多經過幾個車站才能到達明大前再換車到駒場，車費可以省下120元。又或人們知道早上10:30分整站前的西點坊裡有新鮮的面包出爐，晚上七點前路口的居酒屋有1900元吃到飽的促銷。
這就是「生活」，一種長年累月下來形成的經驗和精確度，一種雖然有時令人感到不耐，但在大部分的時候卻又令人感到無比安心的規律。
這是我沒有的「生活」。因為在如此的經驗、精確度和令人安心的規律被找出前，我已不得不為六，七箱的私人物品該往那裡郵寄、用甚麼方式、在何處儲存的問題煩惱著。「生活」，在我長年累月居無定所的生涯裡，只有關於如何打包、如何收納、如何空運或水運或打電話給郵局請求EMS服務，和如何和航空公司討價還價關於行李超重要被懲罰多少錢等問題的專業和準確度。
我被問到明天端午節我在東京吃不吃得到粽子。「粽子？」我說，遲疑了三秒種。啊，對了，明天是端午節，我怎麼全忘了？
是了，因為端午節不屬於此處的重要節令，更不歸屬於此地人們的「生活」。在這兒，只有要和上司老闆和親朋好友以無料宅急便送達的「お中元」禮品，没有端午。
沒有粽子規律的「東京生活」，正在慢慢適應當中。
梅ちゃん at 3:35:00 AM
2 Comments
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at 6/19/07, 3:16 PM
said... I probably haven't eaten any Tsung-zhi since I was l3. You know why? I attended Kaohsiung High School in l951 ( I scored the 7th place in the entrance exam). I had to get on the 6:44 am train to go to Kaohsiung from Pingtung. Because at that time there was no public transportation ( as a mteer of fact, Pingtung today still doesnot have public transportation), I had to walk 40 miutes from home to the train station. That meant I had to get up at 5:45 am. Because my Mom could not get up that early to make a Biandun ( don't ask me why couldn't she prepare it the previous evening; the reason was that there was no fridge then in Taiwan or if there was fridge, my family could not afford one), I had to find a way to feed myself for lunch. I could not afford to eat my lunch leisurely, because I had to rush to the Pingpong table first before anyone else so I can play during the noon recess time. Therefore, I had to finish my so-called lunch during the ten-minutes break after the third class in the morning.Under the circunstances, the only choice I had was to buy a Tsung-zhi during the l0 -minites walk between Kaohsiung train station and the school. I remember the cheapest and the biggest Tsung-zhi in those days was made of sweet rice and broiled peanuts. I could finish such a huge Tsung-zhi in about five minites. I stuggled myself like that for one year and I must have consumed 300 Tsung-zhi during that period. I also broke another record: because of such a tortuous way of attending school,I arrived the school late 14 times and missed the flag-raising ceremony--one time short of being expelled from the school.Oh, there was another record: I fell into the ditchs near the road side in Ping-tung at least four or five times, for I loved to read novels during my way home from the Pingtung train station in the afternoon. Because of that kind of concentrated reading, I was able to finish reading most of the tarditional and modern Chinese literary works, plus some Western detective stories.Having broken those "painful" records, I decided to transfer to Pingtung High School, which I could have attended for I passed the entrance exam on the previous year and scored number one place. If my memory doenot fail me, I have never touched another Tsung -zhi since l951. I am telling you this story as some kind of food for your thought! Merry Duanwu Festival to you!
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at 6/20/07, 4:00 AM
Chat Noir said... 秀秀～
回台灣再一起去吃王記粽子囉
不然你要不要來我家吃我媽包的～