Friday morning - We've been in Japan
for about 36 hours now, and as a sign of a good vacations, it feels
like far more. The flightt was painless – indeed the vacation
really started after check-in. Access to the business class lounge
and the ability to skip the big long line boarding the 747 put a big
smile on both our faces. In truth the seat was quite comfortable,
and once I saw the mserable look of one tall guy in coach who did
manage to get an exit row I was convinced of the wisdom of our
decision to upgrade. Susan was convinced the minute I suggested it
in January.
Having not taken an Ambien at Susan't
behest; “this is our first together time of the trip and you want
to sleep the whole time?” I got through a few hundred pages of my
book; the flight tremendously productive since my reading was
uninterrupted by idle chatter or requests to play cards by my
catatonic seat mate. In all honesty I was a little ambivalent when
the flight finally ended. On the one hand, even a comfy seat gets
awkward after 10 ½ hours, but on the other hand my book is
riveting, the food was quite good, and only had time to get through
a fraction of the Japanese lessons on my iPod.
After we arrived in Narita, a short
train ride and subway ride brought us to our hotel. The efficiency
and reliability of the system is impressive, and the dual languag
signage – English and Japanese, made us exclaim to each other our
satisfaction with the system designedrs and our pride in ourselves
for successfully navigating the notoriously larg and complex Tokyo
public transit system sans snafu. Ah, pride goeth before the fall.
Tokyo is at once familiar and alien.
The megalopolis is first and foremost a cosmopolitan city. The noise
and bustle, the chaos and patterns follow a rhythem familiar to any
visitor to London or New York. The sidewalks and subway cars are
dominated by conservative clad businessmen, a boiling sea of black
and gray. Everyone moves with purpose, and to the ambling tourist
the intimidation of the city far exceeds the intimidation of
language, or culture. One's principal sense of Gaijin comes not from
the difference of ethnicity, religion, or communication but from the
otherness as compared to the urban culture of snappily dressed
professionals on the go. And in this regard it is very familiar to
the Los Angelino who has recently visited the Big Apple.
That said, Tokyo is very visitor
friendly. Major roads and every subway have dual language signs, as
did the Imperial garden and the Modern Art Museum. Several times we
have received offers of help from friendly locals when we looked
lost, and on the few occasions when we had cause to ask for help it
was given with a smile.
Yesterday we started our day with a
walk through the Tsujuki fish market – the largest in the world.
We felt ourselves lucky to have slept relatively late (7am) given the
time difference, and though this meant we were later than the
famously hectic (even by tokyo standards) tuna auction we by no means
felt short changed. The brother of a friend of Susan's (Hi Phil!)
gave us a tour of the still frantic place, with the hundreds of
fisherman, shippers, and chefs milling about buying and butchering
wholesale.
After a breakast of deliciously frech
sushi, Phil dropped us off at the Imperial Gardens. We walked
through the classic landscaping. The Japanese style of garden gives
the illusion of being entirely natural. The lines are curved, the
spacing uneven. But take a second look and you realize that the mix
of textures in the tree leaves, so pleasing to the eye, would never
occur in nature. The copse is not of one type of tree, but a dozen
different varieties – selected because of the subtle contrasts of
color and shape. In the garden is the foundation of Tokogama's
original castle in Edo – burned down in 1630-something. The
“foundation” is a fortress of huge rocks forming walls 60 feet
high. Atop it stood a wooden castle 5 stories high. The scale is
terrifically impressive, particularly when one puts it in contrast to
it's contemporaries in Europe. The extended fortress grounds –
surrounded by a moat and 60 foot walls would swallow half of London's
square mile. In other words, almost the entire city of London at the
time of Elizabeth I would fit inside this castle, which stood at the
same time half a world away.
Across the street from the garden is
the MOMAT (Museum of Modern Art Tokyo). The collection is surprising
because it starts during the period at the beginning of the last
century when Japanese artists were first freed to deviate from the
styles of the past. Many traveled to Paris and the paintings and
sculptures reflect both European styles and European subjects.
Impressionism and Astract Expressionism in particular seem to have
captured the imaginations of Japanese artists during this time. As
one walks through the decades, the styles become more distinct,
carving out novel decendants of the ancestral line which eventually
yield distinctive blends that are both unmistakably Japanese and
contributors to the global discussion of art expressed through works.
Susan and I both found a favorite in the installation of plasma
screens with simple animated drawings in the style of classic
Japanese landscapes but with the bold color and sharp lines of
contemporary flash. In one example the scene captured is a view of
Mount Fuji, with delicately moving Sakura branches (cherry blossoms)
and water in the foreground. The effect is very much like that of
the landscape woodblocks which transport the viewer to the pastoral
scene and invite them to relax and contemplate the view.
After enjoying our inner peace, and
giving our jet-lag a kick start with some tea we went off for the
subway with ambitions toward the Japanese Museum, a massive,
heterogenous historical collection on par with the British Museum of
Smithsonian. We walked through the rain to the subway on the same
line – both to enjoy the walk and facilitate the navigation.
After an accidental but serendipitous
walking tour of the residential back alleys of the Ueno district, we
found the restaurant we were looking for (and made some new friends
whilst seeking directions). Our meal was exquisite, served to a low
table as we sat on Tatami mats. I can't being to explain what we ate
(and at many times we didn't know) but the Sakura ice cream was a
perfect conclusion.
Our bellys full, the jet lag started to
catch up with us, and we put off our visit to the museum for
tomorrow. Now seasoned pros at the Tokyo metro we confidently bought
our tickets and proceeded to the train. We got on the right one, in
the right direction, and got off at the right place – all on the
first try. Matching the names on the signs to the names on our map
we swerved through the crowds in the subway station as we transferred
trains - only to be beeped by the automated gate. It seems the Tokyo
metro has different companies on different lines, and as a result the
fare systems are different. We jinxed ourselves, Susan has decided,
by vocalizing our pride in last nights flawless commute. We decide
to walk the few blocks rather than pay $3 to go two stops. I'm sure
a native speaker would figure out how to pay just the incremental
fare difference, but we were the walking dead at this point and
brainlessly moving our feet was far less difficult than overcoming
the language barrier.
Back at the hotel we crashed, and then
went to the Shinjuki district for dinner, both to see it and to
simplify the transport as no switching was involved. After food and
a beer we were both nearly zombies, and ready for our beds. The
train was about to pull away from the platform but we just made it –
avoiding the 6 minute postponement to our dreamtime. However, after
two stops the train emptied; end of the line? Ah, the wrong way? We
can handle this, cross to the other side and get back on. OK, back
in Shinjuku station – but where? The platform we arrived at is not
the platform from which we departed! Ten minutes of walking in
circles, and then the helpful directions (again!) of a local put us
back on track.
So, in our first 30 hours in Tokyo we
have feasted, taken in several 'sights' and done a great deal of
people watching. But more than anything, we have riden the subway.
Today we plan lunch with Phil, a trip
to the museum, a walk in the park and through the electronics
district, and much time in the subway.
