kaiki-gesshoku

【皆既月食】

kaiki-gesshoku otherwise known as "full lunar eclipse" happened tonight.

to be precise, from about 18:30 to 19:30 the moon slowly turned rust-red, and from 20:30 it started to turn back to its usual colour.

now this all happened during my dinner shift, but that wasn't going to stop me from going to see it. i would step outside and scope around, but being surrounded by buildings, i couldn't see a thing. i was about to resign myself to an eclipse-less night when one of my regulars came in to buy the rest of the cookies we had. he's all excited when he asks if i saw the moon, to which i replied that i hadn't. he points down the street and says "but it's right there!" and so of course, i had to go see. down the street, i can see about 6 people gathered, all looking at the vacant lot where there used to be 3 different houses (all demolished last year). there's a perfect view of the moon, silvery white on the top and rust-red on the bottom. 

gathered there are our neighbors (they own the fresh fish store), the ladies from the korean bbq place across from us, and more keep coming. strangers that happened to be on their way home from work see us all gathered there and come to join us, making polite conversation. one of the korean bbq ladies asks, "will we get to see the moon come back tomorrow?" to which the fish market husband replies, "it's not like soccer where you get to see them tomorrow if they win! it's just tonight." the korean bbq lady presses on, "so you mean we can't see this tomorrow then?" fish market husband chuckles, "no, just tonight." they all start joking about how they gotta see it now 'cause who knows if they'll be alive to see the next one (they're all 60s-70s) and our group grows to about 10 or 11. there's another group on the other side of about 8 or 9. 

it's a chill autumn night and the good people of dobashi are watching the lunar eclipse.

it's funny how things like this can bring perfect strangers together. i can't remember the last time i really talked to my neighbors more than just saying "good morning" or "good afternoon" -- the moon turns completely to rust and i have to get back to the store -- by the time i return with my camera it's about 20:30 and the moon is peeking back out again, but the crowds are gone.