30 July 2023
This is a piece that I wrote when I was in Japan after seeing a man who was playing drums sitting on the street with a ‘Zebra’ mask on his head. Japan will always be a unique experience that everyone needs to go through at least once in a life time.
First movement
The screen is white with red writing that spells ‘I’ (colors of the JP flag)
We hear the classical music
A few seconds of Shibuya crossing (a very crowded crossing in Japan)
Zooming in and out of the crossing
when it’s crowded
And
When it’s empty – the timing can be right before sunrise to catch the emptiness
Then when it is crowded again with noise, the horns of the cars
Focusing on the chaos but also reflecting the perfect operation of cars and pedestrians ın the same chaos
Darkness and silence
We hear running water sound first
We see the Zebra-man washes his face
We see his weak body in front of the mirror- a very weak body, weak shoulders, weak legs
He is getting dressed. Might be a classic shirt where he buttons his shirt
His head is always a zebra head
Darkness and silence for a second before the scene changes
We see the station lights, colors of the different metro lines, railroad can be
Zebra now is in the station
He sees the photo with the dogs (in Tokyo, there are images on the subway wall with dogs to show ‘how to carry your dog into the station’)
He touches the face of dog in the photo. (Zoom in his finger.)
Then he touches his face – zoom in on his Zebra face with human fingers
He starts to walk slowly, focus on his slow walk on his feet
He walks with steps to the right and left
It reminds the Zebra walk
Darkness and silence
The station announcement, sound comes before the lights
The first metro time, still dawning
The less possible people hour, definitely not a rush hour
We see Zebra from another – front – platform
The first train comes
Zebra is standing in front of the sitting place
The first train passes
Zebra starts to dance
The second train comes
Zebra puts hıs hands to their head
The second train passes
Darkness and silence
The scene starts with a focus on the bulb of the train
Now Zebra is in the train, too
He is looking to the right and then to the left seems Zebra – confused.
A short, bright, and instant clip showing the electronic devices, anime, and game madness in Japan, can be from Akihabara- Tokyo (the heart of those)
Darkness and silence
Zebra sits next to – between people on the train
A scene that focused only on people’s hands with their mobiles, not their face
In the order in which their hands are ın their lap, a symmetric – perfect order again
Zebra bites his nails with his other finger and he cannot find a place to find his hands in his body
He doesn’t know what he does
Bach andante playing and it goes to darkness back
Second movement
The screen is white with red writing that spells ‘II’ (colors of the JP flag)
Zebra comes to the coffee shop
Reminiscent of ‘coffee shop Bach’ in Tokyo- the image lingers for a few seconds
Everything is tidy, symmetrical, well-organized
With a color palette like the Japanese movie ‘In the Mood for Love (2000)’
Sound of the door opening and closing, mimicking a bird sound
The moment we hear the bird sound from the coffee shop (the fake one on the door),
Quickly shifts to a scene where we see a bird flapping its wings accompanied by its real original sound
Darkness and silence
Zebra is sitting
Focus in Zebra
Very quick sound of the coffee cup and plate touching one another
The coffee pouring
The sound of bread toasting
Flying out of the machine when its toasted
We show these images instantly one after another
Biiiiim (biiiim) now Zebra with his coffee cup while drinking with a noisy slurp
Focusing on spreading butter on toasted bread
Zebra takes and opens the newspaper
He notices the food /restaurant ads in the newspaper
Focusing on the ads in the paper- still the coffee shop
Instant swap—and
A short video or image showing the fat girl truck – (see image 3 I took for the representation)
Coffee shop again, Zebra turns his head to the left
On the corner there is a fat man,
Having a bite from the donut
Focus on the donut
Donut is big, and fluffy, with sour cream and pink like in the ads
As the fat man bites into the donut, we hear the door opening and closing with the bird sound again – as how it started
Third movement
The screen is white with red writing that spells ‘III’ (colors of the JP flag)
Largo from Bach and rains
We see a Japanese Shrine
Possibly the one next to Tokyo Tower with statues protecting children
Zebra gets down on his knees
We see him praying
It rains
A traditional Japanese show (the one I recorded comes to the scene with its music here below)
Darkness and silence
See a samurai sword put there nicely as if it’s there for him
Then the sword sound echoes
Zebra head-mask is on the floor
Now he begins to walk like a human
And
Colors went black and white – colors are fading
–
Some references that inspired me to write ‘A Zebra Day in Japan’ when in Japan
- If you want to read about my travel to Japan for some tips —> Coming soon
- If you want to read about my feelings and thoughts when I was in Japan –> Coming soon
- If you want to see some of the photos I captured when I was in Japan –> Coming soon