No one is a stranger
Japan is right in a special sweet spot right now weather-wise, where the chill of winter and allergy-triggering pollen of spring are gone, but the sweltering heat of summer hasn’t arrived just yet. That makes the conditions ideal for a nice walk with friends…or, as we experienced in downtown Tokyo, a nice walk with complete strangers. This unusual opportunity came to us thanks to Taiwamura Walking Club an organization that puts together group walks by setting a time, meeting place, course, and a lightly philosophical topic to discuss as you stroll. For the session we joined, the group met at 10 a.m. outside Ueno Station, with an equal mix of men and women. There was a wide range of ages too, with the youngest being a 19-year-old college student and the oldest members old enough to be her parents. Taiwamura Walking Club usually limits the number of participants to 10 people or so, and after everyone arrived, the session started with a quick round of self-introductions. Then we were off and walking, with the Taiwamura Walking Club representative leading the way.
Every walk that Taiwamura Walking Club organizes has a conversational theme. This isn’t a debate club, though, so the topics aren’t contentious or requiring of specialized knowledge. Instead, they’re relatable conversation prompts, and the one for our walk was “Why does loafing around the house make people feel guilty?” As we soon learned, the combination of walking and talking is surprisingly clever. Because you’re on the move, there isn’t any of the pressure to keep up a constant stream of chatter like you might feel sitting down face-to-face at tables in a cafe or standing near somebody at a party. Walking the route that Taiwamura Walking Club prepares gives everyone a shared goal that helps keep occasional silences and pauses from feeling awkward, but the goal is simple enough that it doesn’t demand 100-percent of your concentration either, giving participants ample leftover mental capacity to talk with one another.
Again, because this isn’t a controlled debate,the conversations were very free-form. The official topic is really just a jumping-off point, and as we chatted with the other strangers-turned-companions, our conversation meandered into all sorts of other topics, whether work, other hobbies and interests, or daily life, before coming back to “Why does loafing around the house make people feel guilty?” and then flowing into yet other non-pre-planned topics. Because of that, we didn’t arrive at any indisputable consensus answer to the question of the day, nor was that ever the hoped-for outcome in the first place. In total, we spent about an hour walking, and in addition to a feeling of accomplishment at having gotten in some extra steps, we felt mentally refreshed after having had the opportunity to talk to so many new people in such a relaxed, communication-conducive environment.
Talking to strangers
What do you call a Mormon who likes to smoke, drink, swear and have sex with strangers?
An oxymormon.
What’s the male version of a Karen called?
I don’t know but a group of them is called a Senate.
Marriage is nature’s way of keeping people from fighting with strangers.
My teacher told me I’d never be good at poetry because I’m dyslexic.
But so far, I’ve made three jugs and a vase and they’re lovely.
June 9th Birthdays
1981 – Natalie Portman, 1989 – Mae Whitman, 1986 – Ashley Postell, 1990 – Logan Browning
1961 – Michael j. Fox, 1934 – Jackie Mason , 1934 – Donald Duck, 1893 – Cole Porter