An old, old man has taken to sitting all day long in the doorway of the entrance to his section of monolithic apartment building. Dave and I have to walk by him nearly every time we go anywhere.

He wasn’t there before.

I think that he moved in with some of his children or grandchildren. In fact, I was thinking that maybe he outlived his children and had to relocate to one of his grandchildren’s residences. Obviously, he prefers the confines of a short stool under a concrete slab porch to the indoors. More happens by, I suppose. There he sits, day in and day out. On rainy days, his chair is pushed back a bit into the darkness under the concrete, but still he is there.

At first we’d just look at each other when I’d walk by. Then I decided I should say something; I should be polite and friendly to my oft seen neighbor. So I did - in Korean. His face lit up, he raised a hand and forced out a definite, "Haaahh." Hmm. Could be Korean or English; doesn’t matter I know he means to greet me. We exchange Hi’s and Haaah’s regularly now.

Dave greets him too. The other night he came home and said, "You know that old guy out there? Every time his face lights up when he sees me, I think of a little boy waving at the soldiers and tanks rolling through the village."

Exactly.

I want Dave to sit down and ask him to tell us a story. But I honestly don’t think he can say much. He just looks like he can’t talk anymore. But still, he knows.

Yesterday he waved to us when we passed by after picking up our airline tickets for Osaka. A beautiful sunny Spring day. The sun was warm and I felt like I was wearing shorts even though I had on my coat and jeans. It was weird to think I was wearing fewer clothes than I was. Time on the bus and out walking the streets was energizing. So when we got home I went walking for an hour or so out on the trail.

Saturday afternoon and for long stretches, I was the only one. Where was everyone? At one point, near a boy’s high school, a stream of about 50 boys in uniform ran past me. Moving forward against the current caused me to slow and strafe a few times. I thought how from above the image would make a good scene in a Hong Kong movie. It’s like the crowds of people are inescapable and mostly uncontrollable in Asia. It would be impossible to try to defy that fact so it is much better to incorporate them into the flavor of the film.

Picture a view from above: A tall blonde woman pushing slowly through a herd of Korean boys, all dressed in navy blue school uniforms, and yelling and playing as they run past her. She cuts through them like the bow of a ship and they glide by on either side, unaware of her in their youthful frenzy. Maybe the woman is heartbroken, feeling its isolation and walking aimlessly through the streets. People all around, but it is like she isn’t there.