I can only describe it as it was describe to me. It took considerable searching to find any document in English to support what I first found to be an incredible truth. But, it is, true. I may never use chopsticks again.
Today I met up with a friend of mine; Ken, and my first Japanese teacher in Melbourne; Sayaka. Sayaka is a very, very good teacher but unfortunately for me she left Melbourne too soon. I'm grateful for the opportunity to meet her in Japan, but not necessarily for the custom that she has introduced me to.
Let me start by going back a couple of months. It's become my own custom to enjoy lunch at my desk at work by eating some Katsu Don. Katsu Don is a traditional Japanese dish (traditionally prepared, in Melbourne, by Chinese people). It is a bowl of rice, topped with a crumbed pork cutlet, and an egg. It is, when cooked properly (ie, by Japanese people), thoroughly delicious. One day I happed to stand my chopsticks up-right in my bowl of Katsu Don. When my boss caught me doing this, he proceeded to explain to me that if I did this in Japan, it would be thought of as extremely rude. I asked him to explain why, but at the time he didn't know exactly why, but just warned me not to do it.
Tonight, I asked my Japanese friends to explain this concept. I started by sticking Sayaka's chopsticks up-right in the middle of her bowl of Katsu Don (I had already finished mine), and asked her to explain why this was rude. She prompty removed them, telling me that she couldn't even bear to look at it. I apologised profusely, but asked her why. The information that came to me after this made me feel sick to my stomach.
I could never, and will never, judge another culture as wrong or right (see Yasukuni), but the following concepts, wehther wrong or right, made me feel rather disjointed. I regret that they did, but this is simply the way that I felt and I cannot deny it.
First, and not very disturbing, is the answer to my original question. In a traditional Buddhist funeral, a bowl heaped over with rice is offered to the departed, with two chopsticks standing upright in the centre of the bowl. As a result, when eating any ordinary meal, you should never rest your chopsticks upright in the centre of your own bowl. To do so is akin to a Christian woman wearing a black veil anywhere but to a funeral. Imagine seeing such a woman wearing a black veil to the grocery store. It's just a little bit too strange.
But, my teacher did not stop there and proceeded to explain a second Buddhist funeral ceremony. While I thank Sayaka for not sharing this with me while I was eating, I had still only just finished. I'm not really adverse to the practices of another culture, but this one was so... different... that it made me want to remember my delicious Katsu Don experience in the bathroom, in reverse.
I need to take a moment here before I can adequately explain this next ceremony as it was explained to me...
A second Japanese custom that is extremely offensive is the touching of two pairs of chopsticks. Say, for example, your friend offers you a selection of meat at a Japanese dinner. For you to collect such an offering with your own chopsticks is incredibly rude and disturbing to the Japanese people. "Why?", I asked, completely confused as to how such a thing could be considered anything but like offering meat from a fork to a another fork or a spoon. Well, it goes as follows...
In very traditional Japanese burial ceremonies, the departed is cremated to a point that the majority of their bones are still present, and not completley incinerated. As a group, the family and close friends of the departed will sit around the ashes and pick the bones out of the remains, starting with the lower bones and moving to the upper bones of the body. This is to ensure that the deceased is placed upright in the urn. The bones are passed around from one pair of (special) chopsticks to another, and then eventually passed into the urn by the last member of the ceremony to receive them. The last bone is typically the bone of the Adam's Apple (or whatever the equivalent bone is), which is held in a higher regard because it resembles a "little buddha".
This ceremony is very sacred and extremely solemn for the Japanese people, and my friends have both taken part in such a ceremony. I used the word 'traditional', which should not for a moment be confused with 'uncommon'. Personally, I consider myself a devout Athiest, but I have no reservations in celebrating the cultures of various religions. Recently, I was priviledged to take on the role of Best Man in a very Baptist wedding, and I greatly enjoyed the experience and opportunity to honour my friends in the culture that they were accustomed to. However, I am not sure if I could ever take part in a ceremony such as this.
But this is the point, this is Japan, and this is travelling. I wanted to open my eyes to the various and varying cultures of the world. And this has certainly done just that.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Tokyo - Day 9
The hot canned coffee poll is quickly becoming redundant. I've passed the 50 mark (seriously), and it won't be long before I reach the final tier of 150+. I accept that challenge, I'm already at the point where my travelling basically involves bouncing from vending machine to vending machine. Think Fry in Three Hundred Big Boys.
I've put a new poll on, one that matches today's event. I won't tell you exactly how I reacted, I'll leave it up to you to tell me what perception all my friends have of me. Needless to say, I looked like a tard.
Earthquakes are very common in Japan, but for the most part the are mere tremors. The Japanese also have their own measurement scale, called Shindo. Being an Australian, I've never had the experience of feeling the earth literally move, and I have to say the whole thing was very unnerving. It was even more unnerving based on where I was at the time that it happened. But I'll get to that.
I've reached a point in Tokyo where I've done everything I had hoped to do, and there's nothing left to do here that really interests me. So I've moved me plans to go to Osaka and Kyoto forward by a couple of days, and will spend the rest of this weekend just catching up with friends and enjoying the wonderful food and drink that is available.
Today I caught up with a friend of my housemates, whom I met at their wedding back in January. She speaks almost no English so this was a huge challenge for me, as I couldn't back down to English or simply nod and walk away like I was getting accustomed to. No, I had to speak Japanese. As much as my head hurt, I feel like I did a pretty decent job at carrying a conversation in another language. But it wasn't a very natural sounding conversation.
You see, I've found that there are two levels of Japanese that I can speak at. One is the really boring, totally useless, beginner stuff. You can't really make a friendly conversation out of this stuff. Imagine sitting down with a good friend of yours and starting a conversation with 'I like dogs, do you like dogs?', or 'Yesterday I met Jack. Jack got fat'. In fact, the only useful one-sentence conversation I've come across is "I'm drunk".
The other level of Japanese sits more in that intermediate range, where I am still strugging. But this is the stuff that a half-decent conversation is made of. While I can run off the beginner stuff without too many problems now, saying something like "I was surprised that when I was in northern Japan, people there seemed to avoid me" is much more difficult. After two or three attempts, the listener can understand what I'm trying to say, but it in English it would sound more like "Surprised! When I in north Japan, people afraid me was!". Think of that nice Chinese guy that does your laundry.
I had hoped that my friend would be able to show me some sights and take me somewhere nice and traditional for dinner. I'm selfish like that. I know it shouldn't have surprised me, but given that she lived over 90 minutes from Tokyo itself, she hadn't seem much of the city for a while. A bit of a role reversal took place, and I found out about some places I had visited that she hadn't, so I took her to those places and showed her around. I couldn't let the opportunity to take someone along to the lookout that I visited two days ago go by. It was again approaching sunset, so off we went.
This is where it happened. The lookout, to reiterate, is on the 53rd floor of the Mori Tower in Roppongi. It's a new building, and the earthquake was relatively small by Japanese standards. It measured at a 3 on the Shindo scale, which translates as barely fucking perceptable. I have my own earthquake measurement scale, based on my own experiences with earthquakes. Since this was my first time, on my scale this translates more as oh my god, I'm going to die. At first I thought maybe it was just wind, somehing I had felt once before in my apartment and that was pretty unnerving, but this lasted for far too long. What's more, the building wasn't swaying in one direction, but all directions.
Really, it wasn't strong. While the building moved (I think) quite considerably, it wasn't strong enough to make anything else move. We were sitting down having a drink watching the city, and it wasn't even strong enough to make the bottles move. Nevertheless, I freaked a little, mostly because it didn't occur to me what it was. Neither my friend nor I knew the word for this in each others language, so she typed it into a translator on her mobile, and showed me the translation of 'it was earthquake'. Childish as I know it seems, I wanted to bolt down the stairs. I felt like there was this spectre looming even after the shaking had stopped; 'what if it comes to finish me off', I thought.
I'm going to cut myself off right there, because I know how retarded I sound. I'm just telling you how it really happened. I won't, however, tell you what my real reaction was just yet. I'll leave it for you to vote.
In lieu of any real news to offer you, I'd like to branch out now and talk about two things that really have surprised my about Tokyo, and Japan in general.
First and foremost - trains. Connex/QR needs to be flown up to Japan to get an idea of how a rail system should be run. The defensive argument here would be that, yes, Tokyo has a better railway system because it is bigger. Bullshit. Tokyo should have a worse railway system for precisely that reason. There are at least 30 surface and subway rail lines in Tokyo, and easily over 200 stations. It took me a couple of days to break out of the habit of running for a departing train, until a friend of mine made the astute (and obvious) statement of 'umm, there'll be another one in like 3 minutes', and there was.
There are numerous efficiency improvements that Tokyo has embraced, which I sincerely hope Australian rail companies will follow suit on. First, in the idea of the Yamanote line. This is basically a huge circle in the middle of Tokyo that just goes round and round to every major stop. As a tourist, this was incredbly useful because all of the common tourist stops (Tokyo, Akihabara, Ueno, Asakasa, Harajuku, Nihonbashi, Ikebukuro, Shinjuku and Shibuya) are on this line, and those that aren't (namely Ginza and Roppongi) are only a one or two station transfer away. I'd love to see something like this in Melbourne.
The second great efficiency is six-door trains. I've seen these only on the Yamanote line so far, but they're a huge improvement on the two-door trains in Melbourne and Brisbane. When a train arrives at a station in Tokyo, they play this little jingle (different for every station) and you have until the jingle ends to get on. That jingle lasts only about 5 to 10 seconds. A six-door carriage makes this surprisingly possible.
The other little bit I have reserved for a slow news day is toilets. The whole concept of an assembly line must have been lost on loo makers in Japan. No two toilets, public or private, that I have visited are the same. The only thing that seems to be a trend is that everything, of course, is electrical. No chains to pull on at a urinal: when you walk away, it flushes itself. The option of hot or cold water at a tap is controlled by a button, not a tap. And, outside of your hotel/home, you never have to use a tap to control water flow. It's all automatic.
But simply the coolest thing I've seen in Japan is their version of a air towel. None of those 40w air towel crap. The air towel machines in Japan basically involve putting both hands inside a box, and letting this monster blow away your top layer of skin. Within 5 seconds, your hands are dry.
I know the above little tidbits are really quite boring, but I've put them in hear more for my benefit. When I finally get back to Aus, I want to remember even those little details that make Japan so unique.
Take care everyone,
Mike
I've put a new poll on, one that matches today's event. I won't tell you exactly how I reacted, I'll leave it up to you to tell me what perception all my friends have of me. Needless to say, I looked like a tard.
Earthquakes are very common in Japan, but for the most part the are mere tremors. The Japanese also have their own measurement scale, called Shindo. Being an Australian, I've never had the experience of feeling the earth literally move, and I have to say the whole thing was very unnerving. It was even more unnerving based on where I was at the time that it happened. But I'll get to that.
I've reached a point in Tokyo where I've done everything I had hoped to do, and there's nothing left to do here that really interests me. So I've moved me plans to go to Osaka and Kyoto forward by a couple of days, and will spend the rest of this weekend just catching up with friends and enjoying the wonderful food and drink that is available.
Today I caught up with a friend of my housemates, whom I met at their wedding back in January. She speaks almost no English so this was a huge challenge for me, as I couldn't back down to English or simply nod and walk away like I was getting accustomed to. No, I had to speak Japanese. As much as my head hurt, I feel like I did a pretty decent job at carrying a conversation in another language. But it wasn't a very natural sounding conversation.
You see, I've found that there are two levels of Japanese that I can speak at. One is the really boring, totally useless, beginner stuff. You can't really make a friendly conversation out of this stuff. Imagine sitting down with a good friend of yours and starting a conversation with 'I like dogs, do you like dogs?', or 'Yesterday I met Jack. Jack got fat'. In fact, the only useful one-sentence conversation I've come across is "I'm drunk".
The other level of Japanese sits more in that intermediate range, where I am still strugging. But this is the stuff that a half-decent conversation is made of. While I can run off the beginner stuff without too many problems now, saying something like "I was surprised that when I was in northern Japan, people there seemed to avoid me" is much more difficult. After two or three attempts, the listener can understand what I'm trying to say, but it in English it would sound more like "Surprised! When I in north Japan, people afraid me was!". Think of that nice Chinese guy that does your laundry.
I had hoped that my friend would be able to show me some sights and take me somewhere nice and traditional for dinner. I'm selfish like that. I know it shouldn't have surprised me, but given that she lived over 90 minutes from Tokyo itself, she hadn't seem much of the city for a while. A bit of a role reversal took place, and I found out about some places I had visited that she hadn't, so I took her to those places and showed her around. I couldn't let the opportunity to take someone along to the lookout that I visited two days ago go by. It was again approaching sunset, so off we went.
This is where it happened. The lookout, to reiterate, is on the 53rd floor of the Mori Tower in Roppongi. It's a new building, and the earthquake was relatively small by Japanese standards. It measured at a 3 on the Shindo scale, which translates as barely fucking perceptable. I have my own earthquake measurement scale, based on my own experiences with earthquakes. Since this was my first time, on my scale this translates more as oh my god, I'm going to die. At first I thought maybe it was just wind, somehing I had felt once before in my apartment and that was pretty unnerving, but this lasted for far too long. What's more, the building wasn't swaying in one direction, but all directions.
Really, it wasn't strong. While the building moved (I think) quite considerably, it wasn't strong enough to make anything else move. We were sitting down having a drink watching the city, and it wasn't even strong enough to make the bottles move. Nevertheless, I freaked a little, mostly because it didn't occur to me what it was. Neither my friend nor I knew the word for this in each others language, so she typed it into a translator on her mobile, and showed me the translation of 'it was earthquake'. Childish as I know it seems, I wanted to bolt down the stairs. I felt like there was this spectre looming even after the shaking had stopped; 'what if it comes to finish me off', I thought.
I'm going to cut myself off right there, because I know how retarded I sound. I'm just telling you how it really happened. I won't, however, tell you what my real reaction was just yet. I'll leave it for you to vote.
In lieu of any real news to offer you, I'd like to branch out now and talk about two things that really have surprised my about Tokyo, and Japan in general.
First and foremost - trains. Connex/QR needs to be flown up to Japan to get an idea of how a rail system should be run. The defensive argument here would be that, yes, Tokyo has a better railway system because it is bigger. Bullshit. Tokyo should have a worse railway system for precisely that reason. There are at least 30 surface and subway rail lines in Tokyo, and easily over 200 stations. It took me a couple of days to break out of the habit of running for a departing train, until a friend of mine made the astute (and obvious) statement of 'umm, there'll be another one in like 3 minutes', and there was.
There are numerous efficiency improvements that Tokyo has embraced, which I sincerely hope Australian rail companies will follow suit on. First, in the idea of the Yamanote line. This is basically a huge circle in the middle of Tokyo that just goes round and round to every major stop. As a tourist, this was incredbly useful because all of the common tourist stops (Tokyo, Akihabara, Ueno, Asakasa, Harajuku, Nihonbashi, Ikebukuro, Shinjuku and Shibuya) are on this line, and those that aren't (namely Ginza and Roppongi) are only a one or two station transfer away. I'd love to see something like this in Melbourne.
The second great efficiency is six-door trains. I've seen these only on the Yamanote line so far, but they're a huge improvement on the two-door trains in Melbourne and Brisbane. When a train arrives at a station in Tokyo, they play this little jingle (different for every station) and you have until the jingle ends to get on. That jingle lasts only about 5 to 10 seconds. A six-door carriage makes this surprisingly possible.
The other little bit I have reserved for a slow news day is toilets. The whole concept of an assembly line must have been lost on loo makers in Japan. No two toilets, public or private, that I have visited are the same. The only thing that seems to be a trend is that everything, of course, is electrical. No chains to pull on at a urinal: when you walk away, it flushes itself. The option of hot or cold water at a tap is controlled by a button, not a tap. And, outside of your hotel/home, you never have to use a tap to control water flow. It's all automatic.
But simply the coolest thing I've seen in Japan is their version of a air towel. None of those 40w air towel crap. The air towel machines in Japan basically involve putting both hands inside a box, and letting this monster blow away your top layer of skin. Within 5 seconds, your hands are dry.
I know the above little tidbits are really quite boring, but I've put them in hear more for my benefit. When I finally get back to Aus, I want to remember even those little details that make Japan so unique.
Take care everyone,
Mike
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Tokyo - Day 5
Today wasn't really like any other day on my holiday so far. While every day so far has been an incredible and happy experience, today was a serious and sobering affair.
After yet again catching up on years and years of sleep, I woke up, did some washing, and headed out of my hotel at around noon. I had planned to head out to the bay today but the rainy weather in Tokyo at the moment wasn't very accommodating. I decided it was a good day for an indoor event, and there was one very serious visit that I felt the need to make.
Yasukuni Jinja is a Shinto shrine located in Tokyo the cause of considerable controversy. Its existance is of significant importance to the Japanese people, but that same existance is a hinderance to the improving of relations between Japan and China. The reason? Yasukuni Jinja is a memorial to the Japanese war dead. The list of those enshrined there includes over 1000 war criminals responsible for atrocities during WWII. Visits to the shrine by members of the Japanese parliament have sparked outrage in China, Korea, and Taiwan. As I understand it, in the Shinto religion, the Japanese do not believe that one can be held accountable for their actions after they have died. Those in the Book of Souls and Yasukuni are remembered by the Japanese for giving their lives to Imperial Japan.
I feel compelled to respect the beliefs and traditions of any culture. The Japanese do not honour the crimes these people commited, but instead honour the memory that they gave their lives for
the country they loved. It's a really difficult situation, because despite my position that you should not always judge another culture as if it was your own, I cannot deny my feeling that honouring some of these people for their service to Imperial Japan is akin to honouring Hitler for his efforts in rebuilding a shattered German economy. I cannot say that Yasukuni is wrong or right. I simply cannot answer that question.
I spent a long time before coming to Japan trying to decide if I would include Yasukuni in my tour, or if I would boycott it like so many others have. In the end, a philosophy of mine that no educational opportunity should ever be refused won out. Knowledge is an innocent treasure, so long as it is offered to the right mind. My late grandfather fought the Japanese in Guinea during the war, and while I truly hope that he would not feel I was dishonouring his own memory by visiting Yasukuni, I sadly cannot hold that hope with conviction. This made my decision to visit particular difficult, and I almost didn't walk in the gate.
I am however glad I chose to include it. It was a good experience on many levels. Architecturally, it is a beautiful complex and the Sakura in bloom made it so much more beautiful. There is a museum that has displays in English and Japanese and it is easily one of the most informative and well laid out museums that I have ever been to. It took me over 2 hours to get through all the displays.
The museum starts right back at the beginning, with information on the first sightings of western ships in Japans waters, and how the Japanese people at the time responded to these. Japan was a highly isolated country and in its past, any ships from another land almost always resulted in an assault. The Americans, British, and Dutch wanted an opportunity to expand their trade and colonisation and the Japanese just wanted to be left alone. Eventually, the Japanese relented at the threat of war and opened their ports, which in turn changed the face of their country forever.
The tour walks through the various, clearly identifiable stages. The opening of ports bought in trade and opportunity but also caused outrage within Japan. Over the years, this outrage helped to overturn the exisiting political system in Japan and returned the country to the former system of imperialism, with the whole country united under the Emporer. The removed system was more like the fuedalisim of medival Europe, although there was a King (Emporer), the Lord and Barons (Shogunate) were mostly autonomous. In Japan, this new era is referred to as the Meiji period.
During the Meiji period Japan sought to modernise its country and went from rejecting the west to embracing it, and sent engineers, architects, linguists, and diplomats to western lands for periods of time where they would learn as much as possible and then return to impart that knowledge for the benefit of their own country.
At this point one can draw one of two distinctions. Some would say that Japan was concerned about colonised rule in Asia and began a process to liberate the colonised lands of Asia. Remeber that at this point (mid 1800s) all but China, Siam and Japan were under colonial rule. Others would say that Japan sought the same colonial and imperialistic ends as the west. It is not my place or desire to say which distiction is right or wrong.
Anyway, back on track. As the tour progresses it covers the modernisation of Japan, the building of an imperial navy, and then the almost overnight switch in the early 20th century from being a defensive nation to an offensive nation. There is, of course, a large section covering the events of WWII and I was at one point jolted back to a sober reality when I say a map of the Pacific outlining areas that Japan had attacked, and saw a few arrows heading towards Australia.
Towards the end of the museum there were countless photos and letters of war dead on display. Whilst the vast majority of these were in Japanese, there was one lone book of final letters home that had been translated into English. I have to admit that I found it very hard not to weep openly as I read letter after letter or officers, privates, ensigns, and kamikaze pilots knowingly write their last letters to their parents, wives, and siblings. One that will stick with me forever is a kamikaze pilot who was writing to his wife. The letter indicated that he was only recently married, but they had attempted to concieve a child before he was drafted. In the letter he asked his wife to ensure, should she be pregant, that the child receive a good education and if it was a boy, he would like his son to become a solider. I cannot begin to imagine the torment of writing your final letter to a wife you had loved only a short time, asking her to care for a child you weren't sure you had. The letter was written with a strength and conviction that I found incredible. It was the last letter that I could bear to read and with it I closed the book and moved on.
While I would like to recommend Yasukuni to you, I won't. Having read above I'm sure if you ever have the opportunity to visit, you will make the decision that is right for you and I won't try to influence that decision at all.
After leaving the shrine I headed out for a very, very long walk. Past the imperial palace and into places that I cannot remember. After about 3 hours I finally stopped walking and found that I was four towns over from where I started. It was a simply beautiful walk and fortunately the rain had stopped, so hopefully tomorrow the weather will be fine for even more walking and a trip over to Tokyo Bay.
Mike
After yet again catching up on years and years of sleep, I woke up, did some washing, and headed out of my hotel at around noon. I had planned to head out to the bay today but the rainy weather in Tokyo at the moment wasn't very accommodating. I decided it was a good day for an indoor event, and there was one very serious visit that I felt the need to make.
Yasukuni Jinja is a Shinto shrine located in Tokyo the cause of considerable controversy. Its existance is of significant importance to the Japanese people, but that same existance is a hinderance to the improving of relations between Japan and China. The reason? Yasukuni Jinja is a memorial to the Japanese war dead. The list of those enshrined there includes over 1000 war criminals responsible for atrocities during WWII. Visits to the shrine by members of the Japanese parliament have sparked outrage in China, Korea, and Taiwan. As I understand it, in the Shinto religion, the Japanese do not believe that one can be held accountable for their actions after they have died. Those in the Book of Souls and Yasukuni are remembered by the Japanese for giving their lives to Imperial Japan.
I feel compelled to respect the beliefs and traditions of any culture. The Japanese do not honour the crimes these people commited, but instead honour the memory that they gave their lives for
the country they loved. It's a really difficult situation, because despite my position that you should not always judge another culture as if it was your own, I cannot deny my feeling that honouring some of these people for their service to Imperial Japan is akin to honouring Hitler for his efforts in rebuilding a shattered German economy. I cannot say that Yasukuni is wrong or right. I simply cannot answer that question.
I spent a long time before coming to Japan trying to decide if I would include Yasukuni in my tour, or if I would boycott it like so many others have. In the end, a philosophy of mine that no educational opportunity should ever be refused won out. Knowledge is an innocent treasure, so long as it is offered to the right mind. My late grandfather fought the Japanese in Guinea during the war, and while I truly hope that he would not feel I was dishonouring his own memory by visiting Yasukuni, I sadly cannot hold that hope with conviction. This made my decision to visit particular difficult, and I almost didn't walk in the gate.
I am however glad I chose to include it. It was a good experience on many levels. Architecturally, it is a beautiful complex and the Sakura in bloom made it so much more beautiful. There is a museum that has displays in English and Japanese and it is easily one of the most informative and well laid out museums that I have ever been to. It took me over 2 hours to get through all the displays.
The museum starts right back at the beginning, with information on the first sightings of western ships in Japans waters, and how the Japanese people at the time responded to these. Japan was a highly isolated country and in its past, any ships from another land almost always resulted in an assault. The Americans, British, and Dutch wanted an opportunity to expand their trade and colonisation and the Japanese just wanted to be left alone. Eventually, the Japanese relented at the threat of war and opened their ports, which in turn changed the face of their country forever.
The tour walks through the various, clearly identifiable stages. The opening of ports bought in trade and opportunity but also caused outrage within Japan. Over the years, this outrage helped to overturn the exisiting political system in Japan and returned the country to the former system of imperialism, with the whole country united under the Emporer. The removed system was more like the fuedalisim of medival Europe, although there was a King (Emporer), the Lord and Barons (Shogunate) were mostly autonomous. In Japan, this new era is referred to as the Meiji period.
During the Meiji period Japan sought to modernise its country and went from rejecting the west to embracing it, and sent engineers, architects, linguists, and diplomats to western lands for periods of time where they would learn as much as possible and then return to impart that knowledge for the benefit of their own country.
At this point one can draw one of two distinctions. Some would say that Japan was concerned about colonised rule in Asia and began a process to liberate the colonised lands of Asia. Remeber that at this point (mid 1800s) all but China, Siam and Japan were under colonial rule. Others would say that Japan sought the same colonial and imperialistic ends as the west. It is not my place or desire to say which distiction is right or wrong.
Anyway, back on track. As the tour progresses it covers the modernisation of Japan, the building of an imperial navy, and then the almost overnight switch in the early 20th century from being a defensive nation to an offensive nation. There is, of course, a large section covering the events of WWII and I was at one point jolted back to a sober reality when I say a map of the Pacific outlining areas that Japan had attacked, and saw a few arrows heading towards Australia.
Towards the end of the museum there were countless photos and letters of war dead on display. Whilst the vast majority of these were in Japanese, there was one lone book of final letters home that had been translated into English. I have to admit that I found it very hard not to weep openly as I read letter after letter or officers, privates, ensigns, and kamikaze pilots knowingly write their last letters to their parents, wives, and siblings. One that will stick with me forever is a kamikaze pilot who was writing to his wife. The letter indicated that he was only recently married, but they had attempted to concieve a child before he was drafted. In the letter he asked his wife to ensure, should she be pregant, that the child receive a good education and if it was a boy, he would like his son to become a solider. I cannot begin to imagine the torment of writing your final letter to a wife you had loved only a short time, asking her to care for a child you weren't sure you had. The letter was written with a strength and conviction that I found incredible. It was the last letter that I could bear to read and with it I closed the book and moved on.
While I would like to recommend Yasukuni to you, I won't. Having read above I'm sure if you ever have the opportunity to visit, you will make the decision that is right for you and I won't try to influence that decision at all.
After leaving the shrine I headed out for a very, very long walk. Past the imperial palace and into places that I cannot remember. After about 3 hours I finally stopped walking and found that I was four towns over from where I started. It was a simply beautiful walk and fortunately the rain had stopped, so hopefully tomorrow the weather will be fine for even more walking and a trip over to Tokyo Bay.
Mike
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Tokyo Day 4
I've lost my super powers!!
In rural Japan I was like a king. I commanded crowds and instilled fear into the locals simply through my presence. I had no difficulty moving through a crowd of thousands. My minions would simply sweep themselves aside at the sight of me. I was going to Tokyo to declare this country my own, thoroughly assured that I would be offered no opposition, and then the wheels fell off.
As one might expect, Tokyo has a culture and life of its own. One that is completely separate to what have I have encountered in the rest of Japan so far. There are also a lot more foreigners in Tokyo, so I no longer command any attention or surprise. I've been relegated from my comfortable position as a god to simply being a common tourist. But, it was good while it lasted.
While I've been walking around this incredible city I've been tossing around the concept of how to adequately explain it to you. So far, I'm coming up dry. Every aspect of Tokyo is unique to itself. The first thing you would notice when you arrive is the sheer number of people in this place. To put it into contrast allow me to reference it by where you probably are. For those in Brisbane, your sunny city has an area of 5904.8 km² and a population of 1.8 million. Melbourne is quite a bit larger, with an area of 8831 km² and a population of 3.7 million. Tokyo is easily the most populated city in the world. The total area of Tokyo only amounts to 2,187.08 km² but the population occupying that area is a staggering 12.7 million. The "Greater Tokyo Area" (13,500 km²), which includes the area around Tokyo Bay, and the airport, brings the total up to a mind blowing 35.1 million people.
The geography of Tokyo is pretty confusing at first as well. It's split up into a series of cities, over 50 in total, much like the way Melbourne is split up into the different councils. It is however pretty hard to figure out where one city ends and where another one starts. I took a walking tour on my first day here and after 3 hours of nonstop walking, I had only managed to pass from one city (Akasaka) into a small part of another city (Yotsuya, Shinjuku). At any rate, there's simply no way that I could express how incredibly this place is to you. You'll simply have to come and see it for yourself.
So, that's enough education for now. Let me bring you up to speed on what I've been doing.
On my first full day here, as I mentioned, I took a walking tour and just basically jumped on a few trains and got off at random places. My goal was to get a feel for the city and how its laid out, without having to always refer to a map. The first stop was Harujuku, one of the main cities within Tokyo. This place is almost solely reserved for the, I hate to say, crazy teenage crowd, with a particular emphasis on the emo or goth style (I know they're technically different, before anybody arcs up). After walking through a very crowded market area I eventually stumbled upon a subway station and headed off to Asakasa, a medium size city within Tokyo.
It was in Asakasa that I finally realised what all the fuss was about. Japan's most widely known unique aspect is easily the Sakura plant. These magnificant trees will flower for only one or two weeks a year, at the beginning of spring. During the bloom, the whole tree is essentially just one big flower. The Japanese use this occasion to celebrate the coming of spring with a party known as 'hanamisake' which is a composite of three separate words: 'flower', 'see', 'drink'. This is basically what they do. The Japanese gather in parks filled with these trees and sit under them and drink and behave in a very non-Japanese way. For a quiet and reserved people, the hanamisake parties are basically as crazy as they come.
I feel very fortunate as I had some friends who took me out to Ueno Park, one of the main areas for hanamisake, and we sat and drank and watched two nights in a row. Simply incredibly. You may see photos of Sakura, but they simply cannot do justice to the try beauty of this plant when it is in bloom.
After my first night of hanamisake a Japanese friend of mine and I headed out to Shibuya, the one of the more cosmopolitan cities in Tokyo, to go night clubbing. Certainly an interesting experience especially if you happen to be the only foreigner inside a particular night club. There is a type of girl in Japan knowing as the 'gaijin (foreigner) hunter', who will go to clubs just for the sole purpose of meeting foreigners. If you step into a nightclub and you're the only foreigner, you will immediately notice the suggestive looks of the hunters, and the 'try it and die' looks of their repsective partners. To be perfectly honest with you, I avoided them. If you don't understand why, then I really can't explain it. While clubbing was an interesting and expensive experience, even now, 48 hours later, my ears are still ringing.
Day 3 was a write off. I got home at about 6am, slept till 1pm, and laid in bed feeling sorry for myself until about 6pm when I finally headed off to Ueno Park again for more Hanamisake. I had a relatively early night and got home at about 1am and headed straight to bed.
Today I followed my usual pattern of wake up and walk around. I tried to walk as far away from the crowds as possible, hoping to pass into areas that weren't so common and well known to the usual foreigner crowds. I succeeded in finding a traditional residential area that I walked through for about 2 hours until I finally got myself back on the right track and headed off to Akihabara to meet some friends for a bit of window shopping.
Akihabara is the 'electric town' in Tokyo, and is basically a big sprawl of discount electronics shops. It's absolutely amazing that I managed to walk away without buying anything. I did however discover the startling fact that one of my friends from Japanese school, who returns to Melbourne tomorrow, had completely bypassed the hot canned coffee phenomenon. I could have slapped him, and he would have deserved it. I gladly offered him my can, and purchased a replacement. As with me, he was quite impressed. It's still easily the best coffee I've found in Japan. (By the way, if you're voting for the number of cans of coffee I'll drink before I leave, you can completely forget about voting for less than 30 now :)
While in Akihabara we popped along to a cultural delight that could only exist in the nerdiest town in Japan: the maid cafe. Its hard to describe, but it's basically like a normal cafe but all the staff are very attractive Japanese girls who are all wearing maid outfits. What was surprising was that the cafe we went to had more female customers than male customers, and some of the customers would even pay to wear a costume of their own and have their photo taken in it. If that doesn't tell you how crazy this place it, I don't know what will.
Following Akihabara we went to get some make-it-yourself Okonomiyaki, or Japanese pancake, which was delicious. The people next to us were making theirs using Natto, a fermented soy bean speciality that basically smells like feet after a marathon... actually... more like a homeless mans feet after a marathon. The scent alone is enough to make you puke. Our considerate neighbours overheard my surprise at their meal choice and proceeded to offer me a spoon full, which I reluctantly accepted at the behest of my friends. I have to say, for something that smelt and looked like wet dog, it wasn't so bad. But I have to be honest, given the choice, I'd eat the rooster balls again instead.
Tomorrow I'll be heading off to the Tokyo Bay area and then to a science museum, following which I'll probably just do more walking around. Much to my surprise, instead of gaining weight in Japan, so far I've actually lost a couple of kilos :D
Take care everyone!
Mike
In rural Japan I was like a king. I commanded crowds and instilled fear into the locals simply through my presence. I had no difficulty moving through a crowd of thousands. My minions would simply sweep themselves aside at the sight of me. I was going to Tokyo to declare this country my own, thoroughly assured that I would be offered no opposition, and then the wheels fell off.
As one might expect, Tokyo has a culture and life of its own. One that is completely separate to what have I have encountered in the rest of Japan so far. There are also a lot more foreigners in Tokyo, so I no longer command any attention or surprise. I've been relegated from my comfortable position as a god to simply being a common tourist. But, it was good while it lasted.
While I've been walking around this incredible city I've been tossing around the concept of how to adequately explain it to you. So far, I'm coming up dry. Every aspect of Tokyo is unique to itself. The first thing you would notice when you arrive is the sheer number of people in this place. To put it into contrast allow me to reference it by where you probably are. For those in Brisbane, your sunny city has an area of 5904.8 km² and a population of 1.8 million. Melbourne is quite a bit larger, with an area of 8831 km² and a population of 3.7 million. Tokyo is easily the most populated city in the world. The total area of Tokyo only amounts to 2,187.08 km² but the population occupying that area is a staggering 12.7 million. The "Greater Tokyo Area" (13,500 km²), which includes the area around Tokyo Bay, and the airport, brings the total up to a mind blowing 35.1 million people.
The geography of Tokyo is pretty confusing at first as well. It's split up into a series of cities, over 50 in total, much like the way Melbourne is split up into the different councils. It is however pretty hard to figure out where one city ends and where another one starts. I took a walking tour on my first day here and after 3 hours of nonstop walking, I had only managed to pass from one city (Akasaka) into a small part of another city (Yotsuya, Shinjuku). At any rate, there's simply no way that I could express how incredibly this place is to you. You'll simply have to come and see it for yourself.
So, that's enough education for now. Let me bring you up to speed on what I've been doing.
On my first full day here, as I mentioned, I took a walking tour and just basically jumped on a few trains and got off at random places. My goal was to get a feel for the city and how its laid out, without having to always refer to a map. The first stop was Harujuku, one of the main cities within Tokyo. This place is almost solely reserved for the, I hate to say, crazy teenage crowd, with a particular emphasis on the emo or goth style (I know they're technically different, before anybody arcs up). After walking through a very crowded market area I eventually stumbled upon a subway station and headed off to Asakasa, a medium size city within Tokyo.
It was in Asakasa that I finally realised what all the fuss was about. Japan's most widely known unique aspect is easily the Sakura plant. These magnificant trees will flower for only one or two weeks a year, at the beginning of spring. During the bloom, the whole tree is essentially just one big flower. The Japanese use this occasion to celebrate the coming of spring with a party known as 'hanamisake' which is a composite of three separate words: 'flower', 'see', 'drink'. This is basically what they do. The Japanese gather in parks filled with these trees and sit under them and drink and behave in a very non-Japanese way. For a quiet and reserved people, the hanamisake parties are basically as crazy as they come.
I feel very fortunate as I had some friends who took me out to Ueno Park, one of the main areas for hanamisake, and we sat and drank and watched two nights in a row. Simply incredibly. You may see photos of Sakura, but they simply cannot do justice to the try beauty of this plant when it is in bloom.
After my first night of hanamisake a Japanese friend of mine and I headed out to Shibuya, the one of the more cosmopolitan cities in Tokyo, to go night clubbing. Certainly an interesting experience especially if you happen to be the only foreigner inside a particular night club. There is a type of girl in Japan knowing as the 'gaijin (foreigner) hunter', who will go to clubs just for the sole purpose of meeting foreigners. If you step into a nightclub and you're the only foreigner, you will immediately notice the suggestive looks of the hunters, and the 'try it and die' looks of their repsective partners. To be perfectly honest with you, I avoided them. If you don't understand why, then I really can't explain it. While clubbing was an interesting and expensive experience, even now, 48 hours later, my ears are still ringing.
Day 3 was a write off. I got home at about 6am, slept till 1pm, and laid in bed feeling sorry for myself until about 6pm when I finally headed off to Ueno Park again for more Hanamisake. I had a relatively early night and got home at about 1am and headed straight to bed.
Today I followed my usual pattern of wake up and walk around. I tried to walk as far away from the crowds as possible, hoping to pass into areas that weren't so common and well known to the usual foreigner crowds. I succeeded in finding a traditional residential area that I walked through for about 2 hours until I finally got myself back on the right track and headed off to Akihabara to meet some friends for a bit of window shopping.
Akihabara is the 'electric town' in Tokyo, and is basically a big sprawl of discount electronics shops. It's absolutely amazing that I managed to walk away without buying anything. I did however discover the startling fact that one of my friends from Japanese school, who returns to Melbourne tomorrow, had completely bypassed the hot canned coffee phenomenon. I could have slapped him, and he would have deserved it. I gladly offered him my can, and purchased a replacement. As with me, he was quite impressed. It's still easily the best coffee I've found in Japan. (By the way, if you're voting for the number of cans of coffee I'll drink before I leave, you can completely forget about voting for less than 30 now :)
While in Akihabara we popped along to a cultural delight that could only exist in the nerdiest town in Japan: the maid cafe. Its hard to describe, but it's basically like a normal cafe but all the staff are very attractive Japanese girls who are all wearing maid outfits. What was surprising was that the cafe we went to had more female customers than male customers, and some of the customers would even pay to wear a costume of their own and have their photo taken in it. If that doesn't tell you how crazy this place it, I don't know what will.
Following Akihabara we went to get some make-it-yourself Okonomiyaki, or Japanese pancake, which was delicious. The people next to us were making theirs using Natto, a fermented soy bean speciality that basically smells like feet after a marathon... actually... more like a homeless mans feet after a marathon. The scent alone is enough to make you puke. Our considerate neighbours overheard my surprise at their meal choice and proceeded to offer me a spoon full, which I reluctantly accepted at the behest of my friends. I have to say, for something that smelt and looked like wet dog, it wasn't so bad. But I have to be honest, given the choice, I'd eat the rooster balls again instead.
Tomorrow I'll be heading off to the Tokyo Bay area and then to a science museum, following which I'll probably just do more walking around. Much to my surprise, instead of gaining weight in Japan, so far I've actually lost a couple of kilos :D
Take care everyone!
Mike
Friday, March 28, 2008
Tokyo - Day -1
I am in way over my head, and it's all my fault.
Those of you who know me well will surely know that I plan everything. My trip to Japan has of course been meticulously scruitinsed over the past 9 months and nothing was left to change or last-minute guessing. So, as planned today, I headed out from Sapporo on a 9am train, bound for Sendai. Sendai would take two transfers and approximately 8 hours total travel time. This all went off smoothly and I had a very relaxing time in the beginng. For the first few hours I just read a book and gazed lazily out the window at the beautiful country side rolling past me.
It was at one of these points looking out into the country side where my mind started to wonder. And that's easily the point where everything went sideways... I kept thinking about work! It's not such a huge problem for me. I love what I do, and it involves a large amount of planning (so of course I love it), but the problem was that I couldn't stop thinking about it. It dawned on my that I'd had far too much of a relaxing time so far, and I really started to miss my job.
When I arrived in Sendai finally, I was about to walk off to my hotel when I made the rash (and almost regrettable) decision to give myself some much needed excitment. I figured that my inablity to think about anything but work was my brain trying to tell me that it was bored. A plan formed easily inside my head.
I walked back into the station and picked up a new ticket on the next bullet train to Tokyo. I asked a friend to get the number for my hotel for tomorrow night, with the intention of calling them when I arrived to bring my booking forward and extra day. After another 90 minutes on the train, I arrived, and realised one thing that probably occurs to everyone when they step foot inside Tokyo; it is completely unlike the rest of Japan. Especially the cosy little country towns that I'd been getting used to. I was overwhelmed quickly, and thought it best to stop dicking around and call my hotel.
They were full....
I really hadn't expected that. Don't ask me why, I really don't know. I walked aimlessly around central Tokyo looking for the big buildings saying 'Hotel' in Japanese.... there weren't any. It occured to me, again far too late, that I was in the central part of Tokyo and even if I did find a hotel, my Lonely Planet (which is fucking useless, by the way) blessed me with the knowledge that they were going to be $250/night or more. I decided to try Shinjuku, the main night-life area of Tokyo, instead.
Getting to Shinjuku was pretty insane. I didn't have any idea where to go, but after asking a couple of cops and an irritated looking middle-aged man I managed to board the right train. I found a seat, to my chargin, since within two stops the train was full and I was getting an eye full of crotch without any ability to move in order to shield myself. I squeezed my way out when we got to Shinjuku and kinda just took a walk, looking for a Lonely Planet recommended hotel in the process. Major construction works were going on outside the station which hampered my efforts.
I decided to just settle on the first hotel I could find, which was an expensive looking place about 200m from the station. I boarded the lift, which was also packed, and didn't bring my bag straps through the door properly. Soon after the door closed, I heard this loud clunk noise and realised what was going on. It seems that everyone in Japan knows that the word 'shit' means, because after I said it they all kinda chuckled in a nervous laugh, since we were all collectively certain that this little trespass of mine was going to send us all plummeting to our doom. Fortunately, it didn't, but the whole ordeal bought me no closer to refuge since this hotel was full. But they were kind enough to point me in the direction of another hotel across the street. I managed to get in to that hotel, which is actually really nice, for $160 for the night.
After calming my nerves slightly, I went for a walk to see if I could find somewhere welcoming to have a beer, and instead stumbled on this 24-hour internet place. It's not a cafe, or like anything else I've seen before. I've been hearded into a little tiny room, about 1 metre wide and 2 metres long, where I have a computer, TV, PS3, DVD and VCR player, headphones, and a big leather chair. Turns out you can actually spend about $50 and sleep here if you want, or just spend all night watching movies, which you can pick out for free from their library. At first I regretted shelling out so much for a hotel, but since there's bugger all aircon, I'll be glad to be going back to my nice, cool hotel room very soon.
Tokyo really isn't like anything I could have imagined, and even though I knew full well that it has about 35 million residents in the greater metro area, it still strikes me as unbelivably huge. Even this one little area, Shinjuku, has enough skyscrapers and people to rival Melbourne or Sydney, and there's at least 4 other major sections similar to Shinjuku. I'm here for the next two weeks now, but I know I won't even get close to seeing it.
Tomorrow I'll transfer hotels and do some preparatory steps, falling back to my trusted routine of following to goddamn plan. Exchanging travellers cheques and picking up some decent maps (I really hate my Lonely Planet guide). After that, I'll probably just walk until later tomorrow night when I will catch up with a friend and go clubbing. That is certain to be an experience!
Those of you who know me well will surely know that I plan everything. My trip to Japan has of course been meticulously scruitinsed over the past 9 months and nothing was left to change or last-minute guessing. So, as planned today, I headed out from Sapporo on a 9am train, bound for Sendai. Sendai would take two transfers and approximately 8 hours total travel time. This all went off smoothly and I had a very relaxing time in the beginng. For the first few hours I just read a book and gazed lazily out the window at the beautiful country side rolling past me.
It was at one of these points looking out into the country side where my mind started to wonder. And that's easily the point where everything went sideways... I kept thinking about work! It's not such a huge problem for me. I love what I do, and it involves a large amount of planning (so of course I love it), but the problem was that I couldn't stop thinking about it. It dawned on my that I'd had far too much of a relaxing time so far, and I really started to miss my job.
When I arrived in Sendai finally, I was about to walk off to my hotel when I made the rash (and almost regrettable) decision to give myself some much needed excitment. I figured that my inablity to think about anything but work was my brain trying to tell me that it was bored. A plan formed easily inside my head.
I walked back into the station and picked up a new ticket on the next bullet train to Tokyo. I asked a friend to get the number for my hotel for tomorrow night, with the intention of calling them when I arrived to bring my booking forward and extra day. After another 90 minutes on the train, I arrived, and realised one thing that probably occurs to everyone when they step foot inside Tokyo; it is completely unlike the rest of Japan. Especially the cosy little country towns that I'd been getting used to. I was overwhelmed quickly, and thought it best to stop dicking around and call my hotel.
They were full....
I really hadn't expected that. Don't ask me why, I really don't know. I walked aimlessly around central Tokyo looking for the big buildings saying 'Hotel' in Japanese.... there weren't any. It occured to me, again far too late, that I was in the central part of Tokyo and even if I did find a hotel, my Lonely Planet (which is fucking useless, by the way) blessed me with the knowledge that they were going to be $250/night or more. I decided to try Shinjuku, the main night-life area of Tokyo, instead.
Getting to Shinjuku was pretty insane. I didn't have any idea where to go, but after asking a couple of cops and an irritated looking middle-aged man I managed to board the right train. I found a seat, to my chargin, since within two stops the train was full and I was getting an eye full of crotch without any ability to move in order to shield myself. I squeezed my way out when we got to Shinjuku and kinda just took a walk, looking for a Lonely Planet recommended hotel in the process. Major construction works were going on outside the station which hampered my efforts.
I decided to just settle on the first hotel I could find, which was an expensive looking place about 200m from the station. I boarded the lift, which was also packed, and didn't bring my bag straps through the door properly. Soon after the door closed, I heard this loud clunk noise and realised what was going on. It seems that everyone in Japan knows that the word 'shit' means, because after I said it they all kinda chuckled in a nervous laugh, since we were all collectively certain that this little trespass of mine was going to send us all plummeting to our doom. Fortunately, it didn't, but the whole ordeal bought me no closer to refuge since this hotel was full. But they were kind enough to point me in the direction of another hotel across the street. I managed to get in to that hotel, which is actually really nice, for $160 for the night.
After calming my nerves slightly, I went for a walk to see if I could find somewhere welcoming to have a beer, and instead stumbled on this 24-hour internet place. It's not a cafe, or like anything else I've seen before. I've been hearded into a little tiny room, about 1 metre wide and 2 metres long, where I have a computer, TV, PS3, DVD and VCR player, headphones, and a big leather chair. Turns out you can actually spend about $50 and sleep here if you want, or just spend all night watching movies, which you can pick out for free from their library. At first I regretted shelling out so much for a hotel, but since there's bugger all aircon, I'll be glad to be going back to my nice, cool hotel room very soon.
Tokyo really isn't like anything I could have imagined, and even though I knew full well that it has about 35 million residents in the greater metro area, it still strikes me as unbelivably huge. Even this one little area, Shinjuku, has enough skyscrapers and people to rival Melbourne or Sydney, and there's at least 4 other major sections similar to Shinjuku. I'm here for the next two weeks now, but I know I won't even get close to seeing it.
Tomorrow I'll transfer hotels and do some preparatory steps, falling back to my trusted routine of following to goddamn plan. Exchanging travellers cheques and picking up some decent maps (I really hate my Lonely Planet guide). After that, I'll probably just walk until later tomorrow night when I will catch up with a friend and go clubbing. That is certain to be an experience!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Sapporo
The Japanese people have a tremendous amount to offer the world, and I feel robbed by them that they have yet to export their most precious commodity; hot coffee in a can, dispensed from a vending machine. I'm going to have to write a stern letter about this injustice. I've spent the last few days sampling all the different kinds that are available, and have definitely found my favourite with Suntory's "Boss". I know it sounds like a devastatingly bad idea, but this stuff is incredibly good!
Anyhoo, I arrived in Sapporo late yesterday afternoon and felt ambitious after spending 5 hours on two trains so I started the 3km walk to my hotel carrying my backpack. I needed the street 'eki-mae-dori' (pronounced "ehki-maheh-dori"), but couldn't manage to find it. Lonely Planet maps are pretty useless, I've found. After a 20 minutes of fruitless searching I asked a guy installing a sign if he could help me find Eki-mae-dori. This far north, good luck finding a guy on the street who can speak English, so I asked him in Japanese. He fired off at me for about 20 seconds, mindlessly ignoring my attempts to interrupt him and ask him to speak more slowly. Once I got that in, he repeated himself, just as quickly. I whipped out the guide book and pointed to where I wanted to be, and he pointed to where I was; the wrong side of the station. I thanked him and proceeded back through the station and, once on the right side, found my street easily.
Sapporo is the capital of Hokkaido, Japan's northmost (sufficiently populated) island and has a population of about 1.85 million, similar to good ol' Brisbane. It's also the home to Sapporo beer, admittedly my main reason for coming here :P. Like all Japanese towns I've been to, the main street extending from the station is a hive of activity and the city itself seems to live off of it (Eki-mae-dori translates as 'the street in front of the station'). The walk was easy (Sapporo is thankfully flat) and took me past the two subway stations I'd decided to skip, Odori and Susukino, and almost as far as the third. I checked in and decided I'd talk a breif stroll around before getting an early night before a big day.
This morning I slept in. I must be catching up on a few years of missed sleep, but I was out of my hotel at 10 and had a mission. I needed new headphones (my old ones fell apart on the plane from Taiwan), to organise my train ticket to Sendai tomorrow, and to pick up a new book for said train ride. I spent $10 for a day pass on Sapporo's subway system (not covered by my Rail Pass) and headed to the main terminal, where I picked up my tickets without issue, so I was off to buy a book.
It's at this point I learnt a valuable lesson about buying the latest Lonely Planet. The two book stores I wanted (which were listed as selling English books) had disappeared! Not that I could be sure since, again, maps in the Lonely Planet are shit. I asked a lady who was doing some cleaning outside the building I thought I needed and she told me that they'd moved to the main terminal. She complemented my Japanese before making a comment about how she was at first afraid to be asked a question by a foreigner, but explained that she was relieved. I've seen this a lot in Japan. Either the person you're talking to speaks no English, or their simply too embarrased to try to speak to you. There's a general reservation about foreigners here, which works okay since I have no problems working through on oncoming crowd. Everyone just instinctively moves out of your way. I could get used to it :P
I decided I'd try the other book store, and on my way stumbled upon the Apple store (awesome) and picked up my headphones for a fraction of what I'd paid for the old pair in Melbourne. I asked the guy if he knew where this second book shop was, and he told me it used to be where we were, but had moved. He started giving me directions in English and I said to him, quite bluntly, 'you speak english? then why am I talking Japanese?'. We had a chuckle and I was on my way. Found the book store with no problem, although it only had about 20 books in English (but about a million in Japanese).
After that it was time to get on to the main attraction - Sapporo beer museum. I took the subway again (which I'm pretty sure runs on tyres and the car is attached to a guide rail, but it's pretty fast still) and a breif taxi ride and I was there. The museum is actually where they used to make the beer from about 1880 to 1970, but the new place was about 40km out so I skipped it. Inside a very old brick building of three stories I went, surprised to find pretty much no English. Looking at exhibits and movies in Japanese was fun though, but I can't say I understood very much of it. On the second floor they had a little tasting area, where you could buy 3 pots of very unique (and possibly only available there or in Hokkaido) beer for just $4!! The bar staff took my photo with them and off I went. All three were unique, fresh, delicious, and gone quicker than you can say "how much hot canned coffee can I get through customs"!
With my light beer buzz and camera in hand I then headed out to the main lookout of Sapporo, which I knew nothing about but decided to go to after picking up a brouche in the main terminal before organsing tomorrow's train tickets. This took a fair bit of effort, but I enjoyed the journey immensely. I walked back to the subway station (determined to save the $6.50 taxi fare), caught the subway back into Susukino, and then jumped on the street car (tram) to the Ropeway, or Gondola, which heads up the mountain.
I really had no idea what to expect, and I think that made the experience that much more enjoyable. I walked up to the Gondola (picking up a hot canned coffee on the way), paid me $11, and waited patiently. Not a single westerner could be found. Hokkaido is said to draw a lot of tourism, but it must be just from Japan. The Gondola only went up for about 5 minutes, and after walking off the guide said something in very fast Japanese that I couldn't understand. Everyone seemed to mulling around in this sort of waiting area, so I decided it would be best for me to do the same. After we were all collected, the guide continued to yack away for a couple of minutes, but all I could understand was '55 minutes' being said several times. Jokes were made and everybody laughed... so I laughed so as not to look out of place, which of course made me look really out of place.
I was getting confused at this point. I'd paid my money, gone up the ready-to-wet-my-pants-in-fear-gondola ride, and just when I thought it was all about to happen, we were standing around laughing at something, anything. Finally she said something that must have conveyed a sense of urgency to the rest of the group, and everyone started huddling out a side door. I followed, and felt an immense sense of disappointment. There seemed to be no real viewing area, and trees were obstructing an otherwise impressive view. I then noticed that I was the only person trying to take in this particular view, and the only one with a camera out (I'm in Japan people! That's gotta be weird). I turned around, and saw too mini-buses coming down the snow-covered road with treads on. I must have looked hilarously stupid! We had further to go, and it seems a gondola just wasn't going to do the trick.
I would have welcomed the Gondola's relative safety. This was crazy! Up we went on this slippery little windy road towards the top. For camera loving people, nobody seemed to understand that a flash was kind of a silly idea inside a glass box.
Needless to say my earlier apprehension was not warranted. The view from the actual top of this lookout, at 513.03 meters (there was a sign) and just on the edge of Sapporo, I felt completely overwhelmed. Never have I seen anything quite as magnificent as this. Feeling refreshed and seeing a middle-aged couple taking a photo of themselves one at a time, I interrupted as politely as possible and offered to take a photo of them together. We continued our polite conversation in Japanese, talking about where I was from, and how to get the best shot. I felt totally energized by this exchange, which was quickly deminished when I went to the guy who was taking photos of people against the back drop and asked him to take one of me. He explained his little system in Japanese and made me feel like a total retard. I didn't understand anything. Nevertheless, a photo was taken and $6 later I had a nicely printed photo of me standing before Sapporo for my memory box :P
Sapporo is definitely a recommendation for anybody thinking of visiting Japan, but maybe if you don't plan on snowboarding or skiing, you should come around in May or June. The weather right now is incredibly cold. Snow still lines most of the streets, and the lakes in the parks are still mostly frozen over. I don't mind, of course, having never seen snow before in my life I still marvel at it and deliberately walk on it whenever possible, no matter how crazy I know I look to all the locals. Maybe that's why they avoid me in the streets...
Tomorrow, off to Sendai for the night and then an early morning trip on the bullet train to Tokyo!!! I'm very excited about that as I have about 5 friends there that I'm very anxious to catch up with. After nearly a week travelling alone, a warm conversation over a cold beer is just the thing I need.
Hope everyone is doing great, I miss you all very much!
Mike
Anyhoo, I arrived in Sapporo late yesterday afternoon and felt ambitious after spending 5 hours on two trains so I started the 3km walk to my hotel carrying my backpack. I needed the street 'eki-mae-dori' (pronounced "ehki-maheh-dori"), but couldn't manage to find it. Lonely Planet maps are pretty useless, I've found. After a 20 minutes of fruitless searching I asked a guy installing a sign if he could help me find Eki-mae-dori. This far north, good luck finding a guy on the street who can speak English, so I asked him in Japanese. He fired off at me for about 20 seconds, mindlessly ignoring my attempts to interrupt him and ask him to speak more slowly. Once I got that in, he repeated himself, just as quickly. I whipped out the guide book and pointed to where I wanted to be, and he pointed to where I was; the wrong side of the station. I thanked him and proceeded back through the station and, once on the right side, found my street easily.
Sapporo is the capital of Hokkaido, Japan's northmost (sufficiently populated) island and has a population of about 1.85 million, similar to good ol' Brisbane. It's also the home to Sapporo beer, admittedly my main reason for coming here :P. Like all Japanese towns I've been to, the main street extending from the station is a hive of activity and the city itself seems to live off of it (Eki-mae-dori translates as 'the street in front of the station'). The walk was easy (Sapporo is thankfully flat) and took me past the two subway stations I'd decided to skip, Odori and Susukino, and almost as far as the third. I checked in and decided I'd talk a breif stroll around before getting an early night before a big day.
This morning I slept in. I must be catching up on a few years of missed sleep, but I was out of my hotel at 10 and had a mission. I needed new headphones (my old ones fell apart on the plane from Taiwan), to organise my train ticket to Sendai tomorrow, and to pick up a new book for said train ride. I spent $10 for a day pass on Sapporo's subway system (not covered by my Rail Pass) and headed to the main terminal, where I picked up my tickets without issue, so I was off to buy a book.
It's at this point I learnt a valuable lesson about buying the latest Lonely Planet. The two book stores I wanted (which were listed as selling English books) had disappeared! Not that I could be sure since, again, maps in the Lonely Planet are shit. I asked a lady who was doing some cleaning outside the building I thought I needed and she told me that they'd moved to the main terminal. She complemented my Japanese before making a comment about how she was at first afraid to be asked a question by a foreigner, but explained that she was relieved. I've seen this a lot in Japan. Either the person you're talking to speaks no English, or their simply too embarrased to try to speak to you. There's a general reservation about foreigners here, which works okay since I have no problems working through on oncoming crowd. Everyone just instinctively moves out of your way. I could get used to it :P
I decided I'd try the other book store, and on my way stumbled upon the Apple store (awesome) and picked up my headphones for a fraction of what I'd paid for the old pair in Melbourne. I asked the guy if he knew where this second book shop was, and he told me it used to be where we were, but had moved. He started giving me directions in English and I said to him, quite bluntly, 'you speak english? then why am I talking Japanese?'. We had a chuckle and I was on my way. Found the book store with no problem, although it only had about 20 books in English (but about a million in Japanese).
After that it was time to get on to the main attraction - Sapporo beer museum. I took the subway again (which I'm pretty sure runs on tyres and the car is attached to a guide rail, but it's pretty fast still) and a breif taxi ride and I was there. The museum is actually where they used to make the beer from about 1880 to 1970, but the new place was about 40km out so I skipped it. Inside a very old brick building of three stories I went, surprised to find pretty much no English. Looking at exhibits and movies in Japanese was fun though, but I can't say I understood very much of it. On the second floor they had a little tasting area, where you could buy 3 pots of very unique (and possibly only available there or in Hokkaido) beer for just $4!! The bar staff took my photo with them and off I went. All three were unique, fresh, delicious, and gone quicker than you can say "how much hot canned coffee can I get through customs"!
With my light beer buzz and camera in hand I then headed out to the main lookout of Sapporo, which I knew nothing about but decided to go to after picking up a brouche in the main terminal before organsing tomorrow's train tickets. This took a fair bit of effort, but I enjoyed the journey immensely. I walked back to the subway station (determined to save the $6.50 taxi fare), caught the subway back into Susukino, and then jumped on the street car (tram) to the Ropeway, or Gondola, which heads up the mountain.
I really had no idea what to expect, and I think that made the experience that much more enjoyable. I walked up to the Gondola (picking up a hot canned coffee on the way), paid me $11, and waited patiently. Not a single westerner could be found. Hokkaido is said to draw a lot of tourism, but it must be just from Japan. The Gondola only went up for about 5 minutes, and after walking off the guide said something in very fast Japanese that I couldn't understand. Everyone seemed to mulling around in this sort of waiting area, so I decided it would be best for me to do the same. After we were all collected, the guide continued to yack away for a couple of minutes, but all I could understand was '55 minutes' being said several times. Jokes were made and everybody laughed... so I laughed so as not to look out of place, which of course made me look really out of place.
I was getting confused at this point. I'd paid my money, gone up the ready-to-wet-my-pants-in-fear-gondola ride, and just when I thought it was all about to happen, we were standing around laughing at something, anything. Finally she said something that must have conveyed a sense of urgency to the rest of the group, and everyone started huddling out a side door. I followed, and felt an immense sense of disappointment. There seemed to be no real viewing area, and trees were obstructing an otherwise impressive view. I then noticed that I was the only person trying to take in this particular view, and the only one with a camera out (I'm in Japan people! That's gotta be weird). I turned around, and saw too mini-buses coming down the snow-covered road with treads on. I must have looked hilarously stupid! We had further to go, and it seems a gondola just wasn't going to do the trick.
I would have welcomed the Gondola's relative safety. This was crazy! Up we went on this slippery little windy road towards the top. For camera loving people, nobody seemed to understand that a flash was kind of a silly idea inside a glass box.
Needless to say my earlier apprehension was not warranted. The view from the actual top of this lookout, at 513.03 meters (there was a sign) and just on the edge of Sapporo, I felt completely overwhelmed. Never have I seen anything quite as magnificent as this. Feeling refreshed and seeing a middle-aged couple taking a photo of themselves one at a time, I interrupted as politely as possible and offered to take a photo of them together. We continued our polite conversation in Japanese, talking about where I was from, and how to get the best shot. I felt totally energized by this exchange, which was quickly deminished when I went to the guy who was taking photos of people against the back drop and asked him to take one of me. He explained his little system in Japanese and made me feel like a total retard. I didn't understand anything. Nevertheless, a photo was taken and $6 later I had a nicely printed photo of me standing before Sapporo for my memory box :P
Sapporo is definitely a recommendation for anybody thinking of visiting Japan, but maybe if you don't plan on snowboarding or skiing, you should come around in May or June. The weather right now is incredibly cold. Snow still lines most of the streets, and the lakes in the parks are still mostly frozen over. I don't mind, of course, having never seen snow before in my life I still marvel at it and deliberately walk on it whenever possible, no matter how crazy I know I look to all the locals. Maybe that's why they avoid me in the streets...
Tomorrow, off to Sendai for the night and then an early morning trip on the bullet train to Tokyo!!! I'm very excited about that as I have about 5 friends there that I'm very anxious to catch up with. After nearly a week travelling alone, a warm conversation over a cold beer is just the thing I need.
Hope everyone is doing great, I miss you all very much!
Mike
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