Tokyo - Day 7

I made a mistake. An error in timing. A fucking huge faux pas...

I caught the Tokyo Metro during rush hour.

I think it was the US Marines or Army Rangers who originally came up with the statement of 'leave no man behind'. But, this would be just as suitable for the Tokyo railway systems. It doesn't matter if the train is already full, and the people waiting on the platform could fill a separate train on their own, everybody gets on the train. Nobody gets left behind. I couldn't reach a hand rail, but I didn't need to, the sheer pressure of all the bodies around me was enough to keep me standing up right. I found the whole thing to be pretty remarkable, but it was the crush when everyone wanted to get off at one of the major stations that was the most surprising part. You can imagine this, however. Just think of how much enthusiasm you personally would have at the prospect of finally getting off a train that was almost this busy. Okay, so it wasn't that bad, but it was no more than 10 people from being at that point.

So the last few days have been pretty relaxing. Yesterday I felt like I might finally have been ready to shrug off a cough that's been nagging at me since Hakuba, so I tried to rest up and do some reading, only stepping out of my hotel for a mere 7 hours. The highlight of the day was a trip to Ginza, the Mayfair of Tokyo. It's also the home of Japan's first Apple Store. I was remarkably excited about getting a chance to visit an Apple Store. Anybody who works in IT would know that these places have a certain reputation as being sexy and down right cool.

The reputation is not deserved. Unless you're one of these folks with a premenant semi for Steve Jobs, the Apple Store is really not very impressive. Yes, it has 5 floors filled with sexy Apple products. But, two floors are for presentations, and the other three all look exactly the same! Try going to the Apple Store in Ginza and ask them where you can buy an iPod; Levels 1, 2, and 4. What about a MacBook; Levels 1, 2 and 4. Okay, now try a copy of OS X; You guessed it - Levels 1, 2, and 4. It really struck me that Apple has a store that's simply three times bigger than their entire product catalogue. Nevertheless, I gave myself over to the thrill of it and just kind of touched things, hoping nobody noticed the look on my face.

Today was all together far more interesting. I managed to get up before midday, which is a new one for me in Tokyo, and headed out to Ikebukuro. This is another of the major cities in Tokyo and has itself something of an inferiority complex. Ikebukuro has to be as well regarded as it can be, not that it really has very much substance. If cities in Tokyo were drivers, it would be the 5ft tall bald guy driving the convertible Astra. Ikebukuro has the second busiest station in Tokyo (second only to Shinjuku, which I'll tell you all about one day when I'm drunk enough to painlessly relive the tales of walking for an hour to try and find my exit only to give up and walk out on the wrong side and then walk around it instead of through it), it has two of the biggest department stores in the world, quite possibly the longest escalator you've ever seen, and what used to be the tallest building in Tokyo.

Shinjuku Station, by the way, is the busiest train station in the world and (barely) accommodates 3.5 million passengers per day.

Despite all these things that Ikebukuro would like to remind you that it can compensate with, I have to be honest, I really didn't find it very interesting. After 30 minutes of wandering around the station and surrounding areas, I saw an unusually flat part of Japan in the distance where no building could have stood more than 7 stories (and none less than 3). I decided this was a residential area and, keen to find out how the Japanese people lived and not just worked and played, I decided to take a walk through it. There wasn't really anything impressive, of course, but it was a good experience for me. One day I plan to live in Japan, so an insight in to how you would live here was a welcome one for me. The concept I came away with in the end was that if you want to live in Japan, bring as little as possible. Space is really limited in these little apartments, but convenience is abundant. Every block had vending machines and corner stores and of course, being Tokyo, a train station would never be too far away.

After a couple of hours of just walking I surfaced in a more commercial area again and decided it was time to head out to Yokohama, which had been on my list for quite some time. Unfortunately I didn't research this part very well and the main reason for my wanting to visit Yokohama actually wasn't in Yokohama at all, but in a smaller town to the south of it called Yokosuka. After WWII, the Americans used Yokohama as their primary base and for a while it was the service point of most of their Pacific fleets. I was hoping to get a glimpse of the USS Kitty Hawk which is forward deployed at Yokohama (I mean, Yokosuka) but that wasn't to be.

Nevertheless, Yokohama is a beautiful city. It's not actually part of Tokyo, but is just 30km from Tokyo itself so it falls into that Greater Tokyo Area. It has a population of 3.5 million and it was here that the Japanese first opened their ports to foreign interests. I started my time in Yokohama by taking a walk through a large shopping mall, hoping to find some food, and before long I had walked out the other side and stumbled upon a street performer. I noticed he had some fire sticks, so I was compelled to watch. Shortly after beginning his performance he asked every one to gather closer around and sit towards the front of the ampitheatre. I stood there, pretending I couldn't understand him (which surprisingly I could) and he looked at me and asked me to sit down in the front in English. I thought momentarily about pretending I was French or German, and decided to go with pretending I was French. I held up my hands in surrender, and went and sat down closer to the front.

The performance gradually moved into a magic show, which I have to admit was pretty incredible. As time progressed, he started to play with the fire, which made me very happy. In the end, he was standing on a 1ft long piece of wood that was resting on a moving cylinder. He balanced and tossed his fire sticks into the air. It was incredibly impressive and easily the best street performance I'd ever seen. He'd earned himself 1,000 yen (10 bucks) from me at the end of the show.

After the performance (which I am very glad I video taped a lot of) I proceeded to walk along the bay, which was simply beautiful. After a while, I headed in the direction of China Town, which my Lonely Planet told me would be worth a look. To be complete surprise, Lonely Planet finally got something right. China Town in Yokohama makes China Town in Melbourne look like China Hut. But somehow I found myself thinking about Taiwan and Hong Kong, and realised that China Towns the world over really weren't very much like the real thing at all. I think I might have spoilt myself by visiting Taiwan especially, and now China Town in Melbourne might lose some of its special appeal. But with that said, Melbourne still has menus I can read, which earns it a lot of points. :)

As beautiful as Yokohama was, and as relaxing as the walk around Ikebukuro was, it all paled in comparison to this evening. I headed over to Roppongi, which is well knwon as the foreigners space in Tokyo. It's a big place for expats and has a night scene that matches. But by far the best attraction in Roppongi is the Mori Tower observation deck. One thing that hadn't really occured to me about Tokyo is that while there are few buildings at less than 5 stories, there are even fewer buildings with more than 50 stories. Skyscapers are certainly here, but Tokyo doesn't seem to have made the effort that other international cities have in ensuring that they can have the tallest buildings in the world. So even though the observation deck at Mori Tower was on the 53rd floor, it was perfect for viewing the city.

I walked out of the elevator without even really thinking about it. I think I might be starting to get used to being amazed. But, after a couple of seconds of actually seeing the view, it occured to me that I was seeing the view. Floor to ceiling windows opened out into the expanse that was Tokyo, and Roppingi is close to its centre. I'm glad I left this to the 7th day in Tokyo, because it was all the more exciting to try to recognise all the different places I had been in the last week.

I'd timed this pretty well, too. It was about 5 when I'd stepped out of the elevator and the sun was already beginning to set. I walked to a bar located on the observation deck, grabbed a beer, and sat down in front of one of the windows. Slowy, over the course of an hour, I watched over Shibuya and Shinjuku as the city transformed itself from a booming economical powerhouse to a cosmopolitan utopia. Lights flickered on, big-screen billboards invaded synapses with their dazzling displays, highways cramped up, and the biggest city in the world moved flawlessly from day to night.