but my mother did give me a book of japanese poetry translated by arthur whaley, and i still have this precious copy. and so i've been reading japanese poetry for a long time in the travel diaries. in 1968 a friend happened to go around the world on a film crew, and they ended up in japan, so he sent me a ticket to come at the end of the filming, and we just sort of traveled around. i mean, we didn't know anything. we had no contacts, we didn't -- all i knew was in those days women were still wearing kimono and gain shah, you know, you could go down a little cobblestone street and go to the public baths. you could hear -- [inaudible] being played, the japanese flute being played in the afternoons because, you know, the teacher lived down the street. and the, um, the monks were coming through begging in their traditional way, and all the housewives were running out giving money. so those were common sights. i spent -- and when i came back from the very first trip, i was living in los angeles, and i immediately went to zen center in los angeles. i then spent a month in kyoto. i was writi