in memory...

( This is mostly just me writing down some stuff based on imagery that is floating around in my head. )

So, this is a story about, lets just call him Kenji (though, this name is just a placeholder, his name here is unknown).


=== Ending ===

One fateful day, he was heading in for work. He pulled the needed fare from his pocket, two small golden coins and a slightly larger silver coin. Each of the golden coins had a hole in the center, a feature lacking from the larger silver coin. He could have also given a single red coin (slightly larger with no hole) with the silver coin, but this day he gave 3 coins.

He presented the coins to the main in the booth at the train station in his village. The station operator then hands him a small paper ticket. The man in the booth has a machine, where when given the change he grabs a handle, and makes one full revolution. A small paper ticket then emerges from the end with a few numbers printed onto it. The man in the booth tears off the ticket and hands it to Kenji.

As usual, the train arrives. He boards the train along with a few others who had been waiting in the station. He shows the man on the train his ticket as he boards, as the man's job was to stand at the door when passengers board and to verity that each person who boards has a ticket.

The train begins to depart from the small village that was his home, one last time. To him, it seemed like a day much like any other. He takes his usual seat, to the right of the train. From there, he can look out the window and see the landscape. There were windows on the other side of the train as well, but from the other side of the train the view was much worse, as for much of the trip you would mostly just see the rocky face of the hillsides that had been removed for laying track.

The train crosses over the land, at first moving through the town, then leaves the valley. The train ride isn't that long, but crosses over a lot of landscape. It sometimes crosses through lower areas, but much of the trip is along the sides of hills, giving a nice view of the landscape.

On return trips, he would usually sit on the other side of the train, to see the landscape going the other side of the train. His return trip was usually near sunset, which gave the landscape a nice look. Except part of the time when the sun was still above the horizon, or below, where it would often be dark by the time he arrives home.

to the side of a hill, and then crosses around the hill with the city coming into view. Today, the air was thick and visibility was poor, making it harder to see the city. Usually, coming over the hill, he would have a clear view of the city in the valley below, and the lake on the far side of the city (in which there was a port, and from which ships could reach the ocean through a narrow opening between two hills). It was an overcast day, and also there was a large tower of smoke rising from a location near the side of the city.

Upon arrival at the station in the city, he leaves the train. He is walking towards the place where he works, a path he had taken many times before. This time, it was different.

There was a bright flash and just as quickly, an intense pain as everything around him started to smoke and catch fire. He could briefly hear the gasps and cries from others nearby, who had also been overcome with this pain. If only a moment later, it was over.


=== Prior days ===

On previous days, he would have continued to work. His job was a walk from the train station. The roads were mostly empty, with people walking around. Occasionally, there were people pulling carts, or the occasional truck. On rare occasion, one might see a car, but for the most part these were more of a luxury. As for Kenji, he would walk to his job.

Once there, he would draw pictures of parts of machines on large pieces of paper. He would use rulers to draw lines the intended lengths, and another tool to draw angles. He could adjust the tool to the angle he wanted, and put the flat edge on a lower edge of his desk which would then serve as the reference angle. He would use a ruler that was built into the desk to place the tool at the intended distance from the edge of the paper. This desk was large and flat, held at a slight angle (higher in the back) such that his drawing tools would rest on the front edge.

At his desk, he also had a lamp, which would be used to light up the paper for a better view. The lamp was held on a flexible shaft, and could be moved as needed to light the various parts of the paper. While the office had lighting, for his job he often needed brighter light than the normal office lights to see features on the paper in finer detail, and it was possible to bring the lamp in close if this was what was needed.

For this lamp, there was a switch on his desk. He would turn the switch on his desk, and just like that, the lamp would light up. When he was done using it, he could turn the switch the other way and the lamp would go dark.

This was unlike the lanterns used elsewhere, where one would refill them with oil and then light them by touching a burning stick to the end of a wick, which was usually a small piece of rope which hangs into the oil. For many of these lanterns, a specialized set of tongs could be used to grab and adjust the wick for the desired level of brightness.


As needed he could use another tool to figure out measurements. The tool consisted of a metal base with a sliding section that could be moved as needed. There were markings with numbers, and he would line up the sliding part such that the edges would align with the numbers he wanted. He would then look to the row on the tool for the number he wanted, and see where the marking aligned. As needed, the value could be refined. There were a series of engraved markings along the slide and along the edge of the tool. It was then possible to get an extra digits or two by looking along the engraving marks and finding the one that is most closely aligned (first going to the major group of 10, and then by the groups of 1).

There was a smaller handheld version that he could carry with him in his pocket, and which could be used for coarse estimation, but he also had access to a larger and more advanced version of this tool that was capable of more accurate measurement. This tool lived near his desk, and the higher ups would not approve if he took it from its rightful place.

Elsewhere in the office, there was another tool for calculating numbers, mostly involving handles that would be turned to the intended position, and small spinning wheels each divided into digits. As the handles were turned, the various wheels would spin, and he would stop when he got to the position he desired. The machine could be used for other functions, where usually the idea was to turn the handles such that all the wheels showed 0, then pull a handle with a pin, and gently move this handle to the position for the function he wanted, sometimes grabbing and shifting the other handles as needed such that the locking handle can slide freely. Where, he didn't want to force it, as using force here could cause damage the machine. Once the function was selected, it was possible turn the other handles until the wheels showed the desired numbers, and some other wheels would show the answer. This machine was big and heavy, so could not be moved.

Around this machine, there were framed tables of numbers. If the number you wanted was in one of these tables, it was faster to look at the table. These tables typically consisted of rows of small mechanically printed numbers. Whenever visiting this machine, Kenji would bring a small paper notebook with him. In this notebook, he could write down whatever things he needed to calculate, and then also write down the answer to the calculation. He could then take the numbers with him back to his desk, and use them to carefully position his drawing tools, and once everything was where it needed to be, he could draw a line. Each line needed to be correct, and after drawing the lines, he would carefully write in the numbers for the associated measurements. It was of high importance that each number is clearly written and legible, so effort was put into this.

His drawings were large, but would eventually be copied onto another smaller piece of paper for use among those who needed it. After drawing these images, he would bring them into his boss. His boss was a bit too casual, as he would often lean back and put his feet on the desk and would drink during working hours. This often bothered Kenji, as to him, this sort of behavior was a dishonor to the workers and the work they were doing. He couldn't say anything about it though, this was not his place, and to complain about this to him would bring dishonor to them both. So, after drawing something, Kenji would roll it up, and then wrap and tie the roll closed using a piece of string. He would take it into his boss, and hand it over, and the boss would just sort of casually toss it into a pile of other drawings at the side of his desk. The boss would show minimal effort in this, and all Kenji was allowed to do was to bow and to go back to his desk to work on the next drawing.

At the end of the day, or when the pile got too big, the boss would gather up the pile of drawings, and carry them off somewhere, and this was the last Kenji would see of them. He was given written descriptions of the parts to be drawn, and his job was then to turn these descriptions into the drawings, along with a few others like him who worked in the same office. Sometimes a few of him and his coworkers would go out for a drink after work, but here the drinking was more of a formality. The drink would be poured into a small dish, and this was generally all you would get. They would bow to each other, lift up the dish, and drink its contents. You could ask for more, but drinking more than this, or becoming visibly intoxicated, would show dishonor. They could also get food, but this again was more a formality. The food there was expensive, and was usually a small serving of rice along with a shared dish of tuna cubes and individual portions of wasabi paste. Each person would take a cube of tuna, and rub it onto the paste, and back and forth until it was done. The rice was actually the main thing here, usually eaten plain. While there were things that could be added to the rice to give it more flavor, doing so was a dishonor to the rice, so he would refrain from doing so. Other than the rice and tuna, there was usually a small cup of tea.

Once finished, they would hand the payment to the server, and bow to her. She would bow back to each of them, and they would all be on their separate ways. It wasn't really enough food to feel satisfied, but it would show disrespect to ask for more, and there would be more food when he got home.

This was not every day, usually done when completing a significant project. In theory, the boss could join them, as he was also part of the project. However, he wasn't usually interested. They didn't really feel this was a big loss, as on the occasions when he did join them, his behavior was often dishonorable as he would refill his drink multiple times and become intoxicated, or would go and order seconds for the food. While he would pay for the additional food, it was dishonorable to order seconds.

Well, and if Kenji returned home after eating his fill, then his wife would be disappointed. She would wait for him to return home, and would prepare food for him there. If he didn't eat there, it would go to waste, and it would show disrespect to her efforts.

On most days, they would eat together before going to bed. There, they had woven straw mats on the floor which were their beds. A blanket would be put over the straw, and then one would sleep under some additional blankets. There was no glass in the windows, instead they were covered using thin paper held in a wooden frame. Elsewhere, some people were getting glass windows, but they didn't have any. When it was time for bed, she would go and blow out the lanterns before returning to him. The front door was sliding, with the main eating area near the door, and a sleeping area off to the side of the room. The house was a single large room with no interior dividing walls, though the rear was divided up into multiple sections using movable dividing walls.

One part was as a privacy area, and another part was an area for their son. Their son was still young, but was getting old enough that he needed an area for himself.

The house was mostly built from large wooden beams in the corners, which held up the roof. Otherwise, the floor was made from wooden planks, which were then solidly nailed in place and polished smooth. A hard coating was then applied to the planks to keep them smooth. One needed to take their shoes off when entering the house, as otherwise walking inside with them would cause damage the finish on the wood floor and lead to splinters.


In his town, there were other houses like his.
His house was in a valley surrounded by hills, with a large stream. Water would come down from the hills, converging into small streams, which would then converge into a much bigger stream in the middle of the valley. In the places where the streams came from the hills, the people in the town made rice fields. The water from the streams would keep the fields flooded, which was needed for the rice to grow. The streams would head down the valley, forming to a river that heads in the direction of the city.

In front of his house are walking paths. His house is surrounded by grass, but not that far away the rice fields are visible. There is a walking path from his porch to a main pathway. He sometimes needs to vary his path as always taking the same path will tear up the grass and lead to mud, so one needs to be mindful to not walk in torn up muddy areas. Things are a little easier along the main path, as wooden logs and sticks had been put into the ground to reinforce the path, with some amount of gravel used to fill in gaps between the logs and sticks. From there, it is a longer walk to reach a paved area. From the paved area, one can walk to the train station, or to a nearby shrine.

The shrine was built on the side of a nearby hill, and on entry it was the practice to make a small payment to help pay for the maintenance of the shrine and ring the bell. These were located at the front posts of the path to the shrine, where on both sides of the path there were tall wooden beams, with a longer cross beam going between the pair of beams and over the path. This path was paved with stone pavers, and inside the shrine area was a larger paved area, with a wooden shrine building to the rear. Normally, visitors would not enter there (and doing so without permission would show disrespect).

In the shrine, there was a friendly old man in robes, who would joyfully come out of the building to welcome visitors and attend to whatever needs they had for their visit. One could visit a basin, where the man would sprinkle some of the water on the hands of the visitors. There, it was also custom to go and pay respects to the spirit of the large tree. There was a tree in the rear of the shrine, with a large decorative rope around its trunk. Kenji would pay respects to this tree, and so too would the man in the shrine. While doing some of these things, the man would hold a smoldering stick that released a pleasant smelling smoke. The tree was seen as his own person, a gentle figure who oversees the wellbeing of the shrine and to those who come to pay respect to him.

Sometimes dancers would come to the shrine, and in the front area would perform dances. They would wear masks, and would have various colors of outfits.

One dance involved a pair of central dancers in black and white outfits, both similar style but with inverted colors (each part that was black on one dancer would be white on the other), one dancer was a woman in a black mask, and the other a man in a white mask. They would cross arms and spin in a circle. Then there were more dancers, four more in red and white robes, and sometimes an additional set of dancers in yellow and white robes.

Other times, the dancers would wear red and green robes, and would pass by each other, flip around, and pass by each other again. Often each having their face concealed under a mask.

One time, Kenji brings his wife and son to the shrine, and the man in the shrine is wearing a scary looking mask. The mask is red with big yellow eyes and tusks, and the boy becomes afraid. After this, the old man removes his mask and smiles at the boy, who stops being afraid. After this, the old man gets back up and briefly touches his hand to the boys shoulder. After this, the old man puts his mask back on, and returns to his activities with some other masked dancers.

But, most of the time there, it is a lot more quiet. When there, one needs to keep quiet and not engage in idle conversation, as being too casual here will show disrespect to the shrine and to its tree.


Further down this road, one can reach the train station, it is mostly a small single room building. There is a counter where the man who accepts payment can stand or sit on a stool, and the machine that gives out tickets. This building has glass windows and a locking door, where the man inside closes and locks the doors when he goes home for the night after the last train for that day has passed the station.

On one side, where one enters, there is the road, and on the other side a single set of tracks. Beyond the tracks, there is a hill which is covered in plants and trees.


Other than this, in the mornings in this town, there would often be a fog, but after the sun rises the fog begins to settle and the plants have water droplets on their leaves. He sometimes stopped to appreciate the look of the sunlight passing through the fog, or the colorful sparkles of the sunlight in the water droplets. Though, this usually all happened before it was time for him to get on the train, but he would often see these things on his walk to the train station.

Sometimes, he might also catch sight of beetles and small green frogs and other creatures along his morning walk. Where the frogs may come out into the open when it is damp or raining, with each green frog being small enough to sit on a coin. They would usually then find shaded places to hide once the sun comes out.

...