Ahh, Tokyo. Back in the big city, back
in our Sakura Hotel. This time, however, we got a “twin room”
instead of a “double room” as the latter were all booked. Good
news actually, as the room was much bigger this time. We had bunk
beds, so it was sort of like camp, but it wasn't a dorm room, just us
two.
At our hostel we met a very nice
British couple, from Cornwall, who were 7 months in to their 12 month
trip. We picked their brains, and got loads of good advice for
Jordan and Egypt. Aside from the specifics, their general tips gave
us encouragement (particularly the bit from Mari that “my sense of
smell as changed” so we with time won't have to do laundry quite as
often) that we had a pretty good handle on things. Ross' advice that
earplugs were the most useful thing in his pack proved precient when
we got to Shanghai (more on that in the next post).
The day after our arrival, the 28th,
was our last full day in Japan. Tomorrow we leave for the airport.
We took in the one thing we feel like we really missed the first time
around, the Tokyo museum. Along the way we took in some parks, and
ended up pulled in by the gravitational field of swan boats. About
ten minutes into our little paddle-boat excursion Susan offers to do
the paddling. It's kid size even by Japanese standards and my knees
are practically in my armpits with each cycle stroke. The mechanical
disadvantage makes it feel really heavy and I am switly getting
tired. Well, the darn boat is nearly still while poor Susan is
huffing and puffing away. So, I tell her I'll do the paddling and
she can just put her feet up. Now as I start to pedal away I
suddenly realize the mechanical disadvantage wasn't from my lack of
leverage, but from having to lift Susan's feet with each stroke (was
she paddling backwards?)
As we walked through the park, we saw
one sight we hadn't really seen yet in Japan, homeless. Literally, I
had counted 3 homeless in 3 weeks. But along the boulevards of this
particular park there were many. It was nothing like Santa Monica,
to be sure, but the two or three dozen we saw scattered about the
park were the only time we'd witnessed this particular underbelly of
our host country.
We spent a couple of hours at the Tokyo
museum, it was recommended by a friend (thanks Jason) and I would
definitely recommend it in turn. There was a terrific temporary
exhibit that outlined the spread of Buddhism through Asia via the
movements in sacred art, and a small but very well explained
archaelogy exhibit illustrating 30,000 years of Japanese history (and
swords, really cool swords!!). Great for putting the sights of the
last 3 weeks into context.
We lunched at the museum, soaking up
the beautiful garden. The plaza here reminds me of Austria. The big
building across from our cafe was built in the european style during
the Meiji restoration, and it's a reflection of the Hapsburg era
tastes dominant in Europe at the time. The garden also dates from
this period, and the huge mature shrubs and trees have outgrown their
original proportions, again giving an impression much like Vienna.
Our nice peaceful lunch is interrupted
when a very nice, but clearly somewhat touched, Japanese lady comes
over to strike up a conversation. Her Englsh is decent, but I
suspect the slurring wasn't due to any accent. We exchanged
pleasantries and were back to our selves. Susan nearly jumped out of
her skin when, 10 minutes later, the woman was at her elbow again.
As we left we spotted a Dutch couple
that had stayed at the same hotel in Nikko. Our greetings were cut
short when crazy-lady swooped in; “are these your friends?” We
made a hasty retreat, abandoning our (now no longer, I am sure)
friends to their fate. Sorry!
That night we met up with Phil again
(you remember Phil, from our first visit to Tokyo). Such a nice guy,
we had a drink and life advice (particularly in the parenting
department) at his place and met his wife and sons (one for the
second time, as we met him at Phil's sister's wedding in LA).
Thoroughly charmed by Carol we were disappointed she couldn't join us
for dinner for want of a baby sitter. Phil took us to a great little
hole-in-the-wall place with outstanding food that was again, a
different style than we had had before. The place was hoppin' with
locals and expats. Clearly the word was out. Phil did the ordering
and one hell of a job of it. He then gave us a tour of the area.
It's a (relatively) seedy side of town, with lots of bars and clubs
and ... “love hotels”. These are places where you can get a room
for 3 hours at a time. It's all very private, and check-in and out
is all by vending machine so you don't have to see or be seen. When
the room is free, there is a little lit-up picture of the room on the
vending machine. If booked, it's dark. Some of the rooms have,
shall we say, particular charms. We couldn't find any dungeons or
rooms made up like castles where you slay the dragon and rescue the
girl (at least not lit up, so perhaps they we're “reserved”).
But the three of us (two men, one woman) certainly got lots of looks
from the various couples roaming the streets at this hour. After
Plum wine and beer, and sake and more beer we were certainly feeling
no pain. With a full belly and having walked all day, we sort of
lost our legs. Phil was a dear, and didn't mind cutting the night
short (at about 12:30 I think – basically we can't keep up with a
40-something year-old father of two, how sad is that). Our cab
dropped him near his house, and as he translated the address of our
destination for the driver he prepaid enough fare for the whole trip.
As Susan said “We have to give Phil mad props in the blog!”
Thanks Phil!
Between the hospitality of Phil, the
friendliness of Mari and Ross, and the general kindness of folks all
over Japan, it's hard to overlook how it's people, not temples or
museums or any other kind of sights, that makes travel worthwhile.
So sometimes the people are crazy, and scare the hell out of you at
lunch, and drool on your shoulder a bit, but most of the time the
surprises are of the sort that leave you with renewed faith in the
human race.
The next morning I was a little less
rosy. Plum wine and beer and sake and more beer makes Jack a dull
boy. Susan and I both had a slow morning. But after a hot shower,
some coffee and some aspirin, we we're in better shape, and took a
hop to the “electric town” for one last bit of sightseeing in
Japan.
This place is a trip. For several
blocks, on about 3 parrallel streets every storefront, and even up
half-a-dozen stories every thing is computers, and electronics, and
manga. It's funny how cheap (and often crappy) electronics go hand
in hand with quasi-pornographic cartoons. It is the beginning of a
holiday in Japan, and the police had closed off a few blocks of the
big street so people could just wander aimlessly. The people were
equally engrossing, and we saw lots of girls who had dressed up like
Anime or manga characters. Some were evidently on their way to or
from work (as waitstaff in themed restaurants and bards) but a few
were happy just to prance about with their boyfriends or by
themselves. Sort of a Japanese sci-fi Renaisance fair.
We drifted into an arcade. The noise
of amped up video games was off the hook. You could hardly hear for
all the explosions and gunshots and simulated motorcycle engines.
The place was packed, with lots of patrons seemingly enthralled by
one or the other player doing particularly well at games that we
didn't even understand. It was very cool. But Susan was getting a
little habitual with the wrap-around screen Mech simulator, so I had
to cut her off.
Well, that's it. We were back for our
bags and then off to the airport, where we spent a couple of very
comfortable hours in the lounge catching up on email and blogging.
Sayonara Japan, we love you!
(has anyone seen "The Birds?")
