Caitlin Stronell and I are sitting in front of Ebisu Station when Skip Swanson skips into view with a twirl and a balletic bow.
Caitlin and Skip are both volunteers at the Japan HIV Center (JHC) in Tokyo, which is geared up for a snowstorm of calls today and tomorrow on a special 36-hour hotline marathon, being held in connection with World AIDS Day on Dec. 1.
I met Caitlin first in 1999 when she was active with promoting the U.K. monthly magazine New Internationalist. Being the political animal she is, she's still involved, but less so. "The urgency of spreading awareness here about HIV has become paramount." Carried by activist parents on marches from the day she was born -- in a baby sling! -- she first came to Japan in 1984, "when I was 17."