Diane
Diane made Japan possible in my mind before I ever lived there. I first visited her in Hiroshima in summer 2001, when she was newly installed as a JET and I was still at university. We spent several weeks together, including 9/11. By my first JoaFruit winter she was the person I went to when I seemed allergic to Japan. I arrived in Hiroshima with scabies symptoms, infected legs, a minging cold and the conviction my body was rejecting the country. Diane cheered me up. “Thanks beautiful,” I wrote, unusually concise and completely accurate. Read “My Cursed Body” →
Her duties expanded. Diane attended breakfast dates to assess new boys and ran backstage headquarters for KISS :: Hiroshima 2003, my performance involving 12 scheduled kissers and a packed room of less scheduled kissing. If I supplied the boundary-dissolving theory, Diane supplied the clipboard energy that kept everybody in order. We also read Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room aloud in J Cafe, sang “Your Song” in a gay bar and selected outfits designed for maximum cuteness, vague sophistication and the oozing of charm. The evening might become a disaster, but the outfit had done nothing wrong. Read the KISS Hiroshima report → Read Baldwin together →
In summer 2003 we set off through Korea and Japan with very little money and several impractical ideas. In Pusan we dyed our hair orange and yellow in honour of our adopted region’s favourite colouring. I regretted yellow within 20 minutes and dyed it black again at 2am. We then hitched our way towards Hokkaido, shared Diane’s blanket against the cold, camped beside Lake Shikotsu, built a fire and swam in freezing water. Tents, food and transport were borrowed, scabbed or improvised as necessary. It was an excellent holiday and a terrible travel plan. Read the Pusan dispatch → Camp beside Lake Shikotsu →
After Diane left Japan, restaurants were dated by the last time I had visited them with her. At New Year 2007 she came to the Peak District with her “completely adorable girly partner” L****. I introduced Diane as my best friend and new lesbian, saw that the women were completely in love, then cried after they left. Diane knew me before I knew Joa, and remained one of the few people who could tell the difference. Spend New Year with Diane and L**** →