Monday 28 May 2007

Sunset to Sunrise

i did the time and investigated the dock throughout the night. i went down in the afternoon and saw some of the men there moving the barges, and unhooking this long tube that was rigged from the large silo across the street. i took pictures of some the guys, they were very friendly. i ended up talking to one man who spoke a little english. he told me that they were filling the ship with 8.5 tons of concrete to be shipped.
not much was going on at night. i left and went to a cafe for 2 hours and went back to the dock. it was quiet. i spent some time there and then left again. it was a cold night and colder by the water. i tried to see if i could find a capsule hotel for the experience but there were none in the area. i went into a 24 hour diner type place, took out a couple books ordered a little food and stayed there for about 3 hours. i don't think the guys working there were pleased, but it was too cold outside.
i left right before sunrise and when i got to the dock i took pictures and saw the sunrise over tokyo bay. i'm very thankful for that, it was beautiful. not too long after the sun came up the dock started to buzz, one by one, with ship engines. i saw the guys i met the afternoon before and saw them leave to bring the concrete they loaded the day before to it's destination.
then i came back to school, found a couch and slept for a few hours.

1 comment:

Danielle said...

Hey Greg,

I give you mad props for spending the night at the dock. That's impressive, you're pretty hardcore. Hm...There's just one question that I keep asking myself when I work on my project. "What's "Japanese" about this work." I think you may want to consider this question too. Remember that you are in Japan! probably a rare opportunity, and when you look back at this website you want to remember that. This isn't a dock in NY or in Philly. Is there anything unique about it? I think you should emphasize these details. Are the boats different? Are the dockworkers clothing different? Is the signagae much different. Your whole prject doesn't have to be about this, but I think even in your graphic design you can point out these little details that make this "Japanese" dock interesting. The poetry is good too! Keep that. Good luck.