Toyko. I arrived in Tokyo the next day. Tokyo is beautiful city with a lot of wonderful history and cultural traditions. Japan has about 128 million people. Tokyo has about 30 million residents, a little over 40% of the total Japanese population! Tokyo is a big tourist city as it has Tokyo Disneyland, the Imperial Palace, and numerous shops and famous restaurants. And I got to see it all!
Japan’s Wall Street. My first stop was the Financial District in Tokyo. When in the city during the morning rush hour, I immediately witnessed a flood of black on the streets. Black suits, that is. Everyone, even women, wore what seemed to be same black suit. Black jacket, black pant, white collared shirt, black briefcase, and a black tie (some deterred from black). It was amazing seeing them all line up on the curb and head across the street. I think I might start investing in a suit company here in Japan. I actually heard that they have a very strict dress code in Japan. But more recently, companies have been more lenient about work attire because of warmer weather and national efforts to lower the country’s energy usage since the disaster last March. Instead of air conditioning, men are allowed to take off their ties during the months of summer. But everything else stays on during the work day. Another interesting fact is that most Japanese only hold one job throughout their whole lives. After graduating from college, once they get a job, they have lifetime security. It is very odd for a Japanese citizen to switch careers more than once (like many Americans). Most people commute to work by walking or riding their bikes. Even people in nice suits can be seen riding a three speed bicycle down the main street. If they do commute, they usually live in the outskirts of Tokyo, in which the average commute time would be 70 minutes. Sounds like Los Angeles!
Tokyo Imperial Palace. After passing through the financial district, I reached the Imperial Palace. The Imperial Palace is an exotic castle surrounded by a large moat, luxuriant garden, and rigid, emotionless guards. Most of the buildings of the Imperial Palace were destroyed during World War II. The palace is only open two days during the year, Jan 2 (New Year’s) and December 23 (The Emperor’s First Day). So they wouldn’t let me in. But I took some pictures.
I journeyed through the gardens, taking pictures of the scenery. After almost being pommelled by stampeding tourists and being laughed at by the locals (still don’t know why), I escaped towards the neighboring gardens. I took a seat amongst the homeless men and women basking in the sun. Surprisingly, the Japanese homeless look a bit classier than the homeless back in the States. They look more prepared as they had matching tarps to lie on, hats to shield their faces, and bags and bags of metal cans. They actually don’t beg for money I heard. They are more self-efficient as they will find cans along the streets and make money by recycling.
There was a statue of Kusunoki Masashige, a 14th century samurai soldier in the garden. This samurai was immortalized because of his accomplishments in taking down the shogunate government of his time. In the past, the shogun and the emperor fought over control of Japan. In the beginning, Japan was ruled by an Emperor until the shogun took over when the emperor’s reign became weak. Once westernization infiltrated Japanese culture and business, the shogun didn’t feel competent enough to fight off new influences and potential rebellions so the shogun handed over control to the emperor. Presently, the Emperor still has power and rule over Japan. Kusunoki Masashige’s statue is placed in front of the palace to symbolize protection of the emperor. Funny fact: All bathrooms in the immediate area were strategically positioned so that the toilets face your butt away from the palace. It is considered disrespectful to face your butt towards royalty. Who would’ve thought?
Asakusa. I was able to spend the day in Asakusa, a district in Tokyo. Asakusa is known for the Sensoji Temple, the Asakusa Shrine, and the Asahi Beer Headquarters. I didn’t get to visit the beer headquarters but the building was pretty remarkable. It is shaped and colored like a glass of beer and foam. It’s also right next to the tallest TV tower in Japan and the Golden Poop (I have no idea…). I was able to visit the temple and shrine instead. Most Japanese people are either Shinto or Buddhist.
I walked around the market place and people-watched for a bit. There was a significant amount of school children at this site, wearing uniforms and looking as if they came right off the gory island in Battle Royale. I guess it must be field trip season. I went into some of the shops and was completely deterred by all the prices. I was not necessarily put off by the actual converted price of the products but viewing the cost in Yen is pretty scary initially. When the price tag of a Japanese fan says 1,500, I think that there is no way I’m spending that much on a piece of decorated rice paper and bamboo. It makes it easier to walk away. This has been very good for my wallet so far. Even when buying a car here in Japan, the price will be shown as a couple million yen. Scary, huh?
Milk Tea. I bought my first milk tea in Japan! Trying to buy it was difficult though. I knew that tea was ‘ocho’ in Japanese so when I approached the counter, I tried using that word several times. In order to specify that I wanted milk tea, I had to figure out how to say milk. But I didn’t know how to say milk in Japanese. So senselessly, I tried saying milk using other languages to solve this problem. English, Spanish, Mandarin, and French did not work. Funny enough, the American Sign Language gesture for milk (hands gesture like your milking a cow) worked out and I got my milk tea. It cost about 300 Yen. It was not the best but I was so excited that I took several pictures of me holding the drink.
Before entering the temple, you are required to be purified. A way to do this is by using the provided Purell hand sanitizer located at the... Just kidding. Can you imagine? You actually have to go to the nearby spiritual fountain and go through a sequence of steps to be purified. First, you take the ladle of water and pour it on your left hand and then your right hand. Then you pour it in your hand to sip it (to clean filthy mouths). But you should probably spit it out since I’m pretty sure it might be recycled. Gross, now that I think about it, putting it in your mouth already does most of the damage. I should’ve thought about this earlier. Lastly you clean the handle of the ladle by tipping it upright, letting the water slowly drip down. And then you can use Purell, if desired.
I wanted to read my fortune as well. I figured I will be going on a long journey. I can use all the luck I can get. There is a building near the temple that allows you to find out your fortune. It’s a bit more sophisticated than a fortune cookie supposedly. First, you shake the metal canister, pull out a bamboo stick, and read the Chinese character. Then you match the character to one of the drawers on the outside of the structure and pull out your fortune from the drawer. If it is a good fortune, you place it in your wallet and keep it with you at all times. This will solidify your destiny. If it’s a bad fortune, you tie is on these wire lines or bamboo lines, amongst the others with bad luck. This gives away your bad luck. My fortune was neither good nor bad and didn’t really make sense at all. Hmm…a hundred yen, worth it?
Burning incense at this temple will provide you luck and beauty. To ensure that their child is attractive, some people burn this incense by their baby’s head (sounds dangerous really). Because of my ambiguous fortune earlier, I tried to at least get some luck in the beauty department. I will be roughing it out for the next couple months. Things can get pretty ugly with humidity causing acne, infected and fluid-secreting mosquito bites, and a more natural, pungent perfume I’ll most likely be carrying around. I expect to go through puberty again with the environment I will be encountering in Thailand. So I burned some incense (not by my head unfortunately) and placed it among the others determined to be beautiful.
The Fashion District. The Ginza district is a shopping region in Japan typically compared to New York’s Fifth Avenue or Rodeo Drive in Las Vegas. It is flashy, elaborate, and expensive. Even the buildings seem to be made out of silver and gold as they glimmered and sparkled when the sun fell upon it. I didn’t buy anything. Mainly because of the prices but also because now I’m definitely over the weight limits for my bags since buying that umbrella and Pocky. I did pretend to try on clothes at one of the clothing shops though. All day, I was wearing my shirt inside out. So I walked into a shop, grabbed a shirt from the rack and ran into the back to change my own top. I probably more jet-lagged than I thought.
I actually did buy a Japanese waffle as I window shopped Ginza. They sell these small waffles that they brush with maple syrup or icing and sell it to you for a couple of dollars. It was pretty good but it was one of those situations when you walk by a shop and get so completely drawn in by the smell that you have to purchase something or at least be near it (like one does with gas stations sometimes…no?). It definitely smelled better than it tasted. After finishing my waffle, I tried to throw away the paper wrap that came with it. I searched for 15 minutes and could not find a single trash can around. Turns out, the government recently got rid of most of the public trash cans in Japan primarily because one fool used a trash cans as a holding station for his homemade bomb. It’s always one person that ruins it for the rest of us. So I just stuffed the sticky wrapper in my pocket and forgot about it for a couple of days.
Shibuya Night Life. Later that night, I arrived in Shibuya, Tokyo. This city seemed to have the night life of the town. With countless sporadic lights and gigantic television screens, it reminded me of New York’s Times Square. In the middle of the towering buildings, there was a massive crosswalk that allowed people to cross from every side of the street at the same time, even right through the middle. It was definitely a sight to see! All types of people crossed this crosswalk; business men, teeny bopper fashionistas, staggering old ladies, and tourists (like me!). I purposely walked across this crosswalk several times so I can take pictures of unaware and unique individuals. Some were not too happy with a camera in their face and others struck a pose once they saw my camera go up.
I started to get hungry so I walked around the restaurant region of the town. At first, I tried relying on the pictures of menu items they placed out front their restaurant. But I couldn’t understand the signs and some didn’t list their price. I didn’t want to spend too much money so early on in my trip so I was searching for a meal that was around 1,000 yen (about 12 dollars). After relentlessly searching, I finally decided to go into some of the restaurants to see what they were serving. Each menu seemed to be in Japanese, so I started relying on my broken Japanese by asking “Eigo menyuu?” which I loosely translates into, “English menu?” Most people would say ‘lie’ (no) by crossing their arms or their fingers in an X gesture. I walked around for an hour before finding a place that looked to have cold soba. I haven’t had soba since I was little. Remember when you were young and you would be envious if your friends had food that your parents never made or packed for lunch. You may not even like it but it becomes even more enthralling when someone else has it. My childhood food envy, strangely enough, was soba. I’m not the biggest fan of cold soba (which are cold noodles with a special dipping sauce), but it reminded me of childhood, the incessant feeling of fitting in, and it was something that was authentic in Japanese cuisine. So I walked into this little shop and ordered my food by pointing at the picture on the menu. This meal was about 1,300 yen and it was good! Cold soba and tempura. Yum!
After eating my meal, I tried finding my way back home. But I got extremely lost amongst the bustle of people. I tried retracing my steps and taking the same path over and over hoping it would restore my memory of the original route. But I kept on hitting a dead end. I knew the hotel I was staying at was very tall but for some reason I couldn’t seem to find it. I ended up sitting down on the curb for a while since I was tired of hopelessly walking around. I didn’t want to ask for directions, not only because my Japanese was very limited (very, very limited) but also because I was pretty embarrassed that I got lost. I’m usually very good at exploring and finding my way around (except when I’m driving…sigh) but usually this sense of direction is heightened when I’m drinking for some reason. And I wasn’t drinking. Shibuya was a pretty big town so I started to get nervous.
I tried not to get too anxious so I walked around a bit, looking at the shops and restaurant menus. I made myself take my time and kept on reassuring myself that I will find my way back. I even took my time to find a milk tea shop and got my second milk tea of the day. With the milk tea in hand, I walked around the alley parts of downtown, hoping that a different route would miraculously lead me to my hotel. After passing through several alley ways and what seemed to be some Japanese gangbangers (snicker…), I found my hotel. I was glad to be back. The positive spirit of my milk tea and my strong will to not freak out got me safe at home.
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