Dear Doctor, I have a 12-hour flight to Tokyo in a couple of weeks’ time. What will help me enjoy the flight and banish the jet lag?
Lucky you. It’s cherry blossom time and Tokyo is magical right now. For the journey, the Dr recommends you think of the flight as a 12-hour spa experience. This is what you’ll need: a tube of luxurious moisturiser; one big scarf (for shading eyes, or wrapping up when the air con is too cold); cashmere socks; sound-blocking headphones; water; a great book about your destination (try Yukio Mishima’s 1969 novel Spring Snow).
Now cocoon yourself with some music. The composer Ryuichi Sakamoto wrote the Bafta award-winning soundtrack to Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, but I recommend his track Dawn, from the album Comica. I don’t think he’d like me describing this as the best possible spa music, but I will: its slowly shifting notes hang on the air, bells chime in the distance and your mind begins to float. Follow this with some Isao Tomita (83 next month). I’d go for his Suite Bergamasque Clair de Lune No 3, a beautifully surreal soundscape made using analogue synthesisers. His work is also known as “space music” (which reminds the Dr to watch the end of Gravity: I had to stop on a flight, 35,000ft up in the air, because it gave me vertigo).
The Tomita track brings us to Au Clair De La Lune by Charles Trenet, a cheery number with Gypsy fiddle to invigorate your senses as you land. Smile to yourself knowing that the traditional French lyrics are quietly saucy, implying a certain liaison behind closed doors as the moon shines on. Yoitabiwo! Have a good trip.
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