Quarter for a Cup of Amazaki Man, 1985, by Marshall Poe

From MemoryArchive

Who: Marshall Poe
What: An encounter with a Berkeley street person with obscure tastes.
When: 1985
Where: Berkeley, CA

In 1985 I moved from Iowa to Berkeley to go to graduate school. I didn't really know what to expect, and was pretty freaked out by all the hippies and street people. Not that Iowa didn't have hippies and street people. It did. But it's a lot colder most of the time in Iowa, so the hippies were better dressed and street people stayed in shelters. In Berkeley, all the freaks (and I say that with no prejudice) were right out on Telegraph Avenue, struttin' their stuff.

My friend, Francesco, was sort of my tour guide to Berkeley. He had grown up there, so all the weirdness was old hat to him. One day we were walking down Telegraph. He was pointing out this and that when what looked like a street person walked up to us. Dressed in rags, smelling of patchouli oil (or some stinky stuff) and bare foot, he said, and I quote: "You got a quarter for a cup of Amazaki?"

There you have it. I live in Michigan now, where no one knows what Amazaki is.