When Amelia suggested we go see the fish at a swank department store, it was more “sure, whatever” than yes please. But Amelia knew her target audience. What a beautiful, quintessentially Japanese display of living art.

Tranquility is an art form here, which is ironic given 30 million people live in Tokyo and most of them wear suits to work. It kinda reminds me of Appalachia: fast-paced work, slow communal leisure.

The pairing of lights, fish scales, fabrics, flowers, and music was sublime. Fish scales look a lot like embroidery. It was a lovely hour or two – I don’t know how long it was, but it was lovely.

So I’m just going to post my pics of the goldfish display. I can’t put videos up but Jack might post some on his Facebook later. The music was definitely part of the scene. And should you feel inclined to caption any of the photos, just put the number of it in your comment. I was definitely hearing some ideas in my head.

And there was one stubborn red goldfish who was blooping merrily away until I trained my phone lens on him. Then he turned tail and began flouncing his at me. As if to say, “I know what you want, madam, and the answer is no.” I began moving around his square, blooping to him–until a large Japanese man shot me a look and rolled his eyes. Yes, well.

At that point the fish shook his tail at me in what can only be described as passive aggression tinged with sarcasm. I never did get a photo of him.

Here are the photos I got, and you can number your captions from left to right, top to bottom