Dream Diary

2022-05-20#

It’s been a while since I had a dream, so I’m jotting down a dream diary entry.

I ran into my elementary school friends ABCD by chance, and we decided to go grab a bite to eat (at McDonald’s). The destination was X-jome—a rundown downtown area north of where I lived during college.

For some reason, we parked the car in the city center, biked north from there, and then took a taxi—a rather bizarre route.

While biking north, we passed through a shopping district around (X - 30)-jome. It was an area that was already bustling, but it was considerably more developed than in reality, with more lanes added to the road heading north from there. Apparently today was the day that construction finished. But the traffic light was broken, so we couldn’t cross over to the other side.

While riding in the taxi, my companions changed from my elementary school friends to higher-ups from my company. However, friend A continued to tag along.

Upon arriving at X-jome, there was a single car parked there. A noticed that B was inside, spoke to them, and they had one of those “long time no see” conversations.

X-jome had gone way past “rundown” into full-on suburban sprawl, and a shopping mall with a massive parking lot had been built. It was a completely different sight from the X-jome I knew.

Before I knew it, instead of McDonald’s, we were going for high-end yakiniku. When we climbed the stairs of the yakiniku restaurant, we arrived in a space like a hotel lobby. When we gave the name of the yakiniku place there, they told us the actual restaurant was in a different location.

We headed toward a building marked “Consumers’ Co-operative,” and in a corner of the first-floor ceiling, there was a hatch. Next to it was a panel that said “Members Only,” and when we opened it, a ladder descended from the ceiling. We climbed it and finally reached the yakiniku place.

When we entered, word had apparently already been sent ahead from the hotel lobby, and we were guided in: “Right this way, Mr. [So-and-so].” There were about seven of us in total, so we ended up taking two tatami seating areas.

Without waiting for everyone to sit down, drink orders began. I hadn’t had a chance to look at the drink menu yet, but someone ordered something called a “Dry One-Shot Draft,” so I went with that too.

And that’s when I woke up.

2022-06-09#

I went to a haunted spot. It was an illegal wooden structure built along a cliff by the river, supposedly connected to a massive abandoned inn on the opposite bank. I pressed forward alone, but up ahead it was pitch-dark, and I got too scared to continue.

As I climbed the stairs [written as kaidan (怪談, “ghost story”)] toward the entrance of the inn, a girl was standing alone in front of the gate. According to her, she had come with friends, but got too scared and stayed behind at the entrance—except they never returned.

Leaving her friends behind, the girl and I decided to go grab a bite. It was around midnight. We boarded the lead car of a subway train and rode it out toward where my university was. I knew a delicious Chinese restaurant around there.

Fatigue had caught up with me, and on the subway, I slept with my head on the girl’s lap. I felt maternal warmth.

When I woke up, we were just arriving at our destination station. Looking at Google Maps, the blue dot indicating my position was moving at breakneck speed. Marveling at the sheer speed of the subway, the two of us exited the station and headed toward the Chinese place.

Here, I started wondering about the Chinese restaurant’s business hours. Checking Google Maps, it looked like it should be open. Still, I wanted to pick a backup place just in case.

When I asked the girl, she said she wanted a late-night Big Mac (Yoru Big Mac). Fortunately, there were several McDonald’s locations in the area.

Thinking McDonald’s sounded good too, I headed toward the Chinese restaurant. I crossed the crosswalk, only to realize I was heading in the wrong direction.

And that’s when I woke up.

2022-07-06 1#

I forget the process, but I became close with a certain girl. A lively, high-spirited girl.

For some reason, she ended up being pursued by the yakuza or something similar. Finding out about this, the two of us went on the run together.

We tried to take a taxi to leave town, but word had apparently already reached the taxi company, and the driver refused us a ride.

We had no choice but to flee on foot with nowhere to go.

We climbed a steep slope, but a traffic accident had apparently occurred at the top. A police officer was standing there, and the area was blocked off. Detouring around it would force us to take a massive detour.

The girl strode right through without hesitation. Having no other choice, I followed along.

Up ahead, there was a public bathhouse (sento), and we went inside.

The girl walked straight into the men’s bath. I rushed in after her, but she wasn’t in the changing room. Panicked, I searched around the room, but couldn’t find her. Maybe she had finally been caught.

And that’s when I woke up.

2022-07-06 2#

I’m in class at high school. Next period is Japanese literature (Kokugo). The teacher walks in, and class begins. I feel like there was an event before it started, but I can’t recall.

In class, we read through a text in the textbook. It was a work with stiff, pre-war-sounding prose.

In the text, there was a passage like this:

Eighty years later, a person will be completely forgotten. It was in the year 187x (I forgot) that I wrote down the song my younger sister left on her deathbed. Now it is 193x (I forgot).

A friend asked me, “Isn’t this statement kind of weird?” but I couldn’t really tell. The teacher moved along while adding something like, “Nowadays, with the spread of the internet, things are never forgotten, are they?”

I was sitting in the second row from the back of the classroom—or rather, lying down asleep. The person behind me was asleep too.

Perhaps noticing this, the teacher started walking over in my direction. While I was praying, “Please don’t call on me,” the student in front of me got called on and had to read aloud from where we left off.

It was from a section where two-kanji compound words were listed across four lines. I hardly remember what compounds were there. Only one contained the kanji “巷” (chimata / lane / street). When the student called on reached that part, he muttered something like, “Damn it, it showed up again.” Apparently, he didn’t know how to read it. The student next to him told him the reading, and the recitation continued.

The protagonist of the story was apparently in Russia or somewhere like that. He had made a delicious dish, but as a mandatory rule here, he had to pour on a white sauce that had won the XX Award (some two-kanji compound I’d never heard of and can’t recall) in some town. It tasted awful.

To make matters worse, this award wasn’t given for good taste; it was apparently a tool for political wheeling and dealing. The white sauce was a symbol of political corruption, and even though everyone thought it tasted terrible, it was mandatory, so they had no choice but to use it.

Finally, I was called on by the teacher and asked a few questions.

“‘This country’s culinary culture once boasted great prosperity,’ but what happened to it afterward?”

Extracting the answer from the text, I answered, “It fell into crisis.”

I forgot the second question. I’m pretty sure I extracted the answer from the text as well.

Third question.

“Why does the sauce taste bad?”

Just as I was about to answer something like, “Because of the XX Award system. Because it’s a political tool, not about taste,” I woke up.

2022/07/13#

A dream where Shamiko (The Demon Girl Next Door) was exploring the Poolrooms. At the deepest level, there was a sheet of paper with various people’s names written in something like a 2x4 grid, and you had to cut out the section with your own name and carry it somewhere else. I took only mine, but then it turned out we needed everyone’s, so I went back to get them.

Apparently, to maintain the barrier, we had to explore every two years to retrieve some kind of key.

I also feel like I had an epic dream that was totally disproportionate to the amount of time I slept, but I forgot it.

2022/07/14#

Shamiko appeared two days in a row. She was living in a somewhat upscale apartment building.

2022/12/16#

1
------------------ Wall
2
|
3
|
4
|          A
5
|
6
|
7
|=== Pier
8
|C         D
9
|=== Pier
10
|              E
11
|                             B
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|----------- Beach should be here
18
Wall

2023-05-09#

2023-05-18#

I forgot to take notes, but I’m pretty sure it involved a school.