Again with the honesty, this is probably going to be short since I don't know if there's much to say about Tokyo. I know that statement sounds ridiculous, but after living in Japan for five months, the novelty of what makes Tokyo more than any other big city has worn off. I'm used to the unreadable signs, the blinking lights, the ugly concrete buildings. There's more than that to the city, but what made it so utterly foreign and overwhelming those first few days in August turned normal by December.
So what did we do? For starters, Tokyo Disney! Actually, Tokyo Disney Sea, which is different from Tokyo Disneyland. I think it’s supposed to catered more to adults. We went on Christmas Day, which in Japan is a holiday for couples. So it was me and Tami, the two Canadians wearing multiple layers of long underwear and scarves, surrounded by women wearing the smallest mini skirts and the highest heels accompanied by their boyfriends in matching Mickey Mouse hats. And that’s all that needs to be said about Disney.
The next day, we ventured to Tokyo proper. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain all day. So besides walking to a tiny shrine and to a Hello Kitty store, we mostly stayed indoors and underground in Shinjuku station. I did buy a pair of sequined green high heels, so the day was not a complete waste. The remaining days in Tokyo proved to be beautiful, and we spent most of the time walking around various areas and window shopping. I found an amazing used book store in Ebisu, took a picture of the Saigo Takamori statue in Ueno Park, got a haircut in Shibuya, and ate a donair in Harajuku.
Throughout the trip, I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of foreigners. In Kagoshima, whenever I would see a fellow gaijin, I’d stare at them and try to figure out if I know them, or start up conversations. I feel like many of the foreigners I saw in Tokyo were fellow workers in other more rural parts of Japan, because there would often be the stare and the gawk but a definite attempt to conceal this action. It was right weird.
A few days before New Years, our friend Tim at www.japants.blogspot.com came up from Hyogo-ken to spend a few days with us. We met up with another Ottawa friend in Tokyo, and wandered around Meiji Shrine, Ginza, and Harajuku of the aforementioned donair fame. Meiji Shrine was really cool, but I bought a fortune for 100 Yen, which turned out to be bad! I don’t remember what it said because it was shocking and a little upsetting. Half in English, it just listed all the terrible things that may or may not happen, and that I should not leave my house ever again, and while at it, throw out all sharp objects in case something cuts my ear off in a freak accident. Okay, the last part was not actually written, but it was definitely inferred.
The three of us were planning on going out for New Years, but couldn’t find anything that looked worth staying out all night for and was not overpriced. So we headed back to Shibayama, where we were planning on going to a shrine at midnight. But then it got really cold so we stayed in and watched Back to the Future and The Goonies, both which I had never seen and now feel like I missed out on a lot in my childhood.
The coolest thing we did in Tokyo, and probably the only real cultural thing besides the bad luck shrine, was visit the Imperial Palace. The grounds are only open two days a year, on the Emperor’s birthday and on the 2nd of January. There were a ton of people there, but the lines were super efficient, with different security checkpoint for bags and bodies. Then we walked in an orderly fashion to the front of the palace, which was a bit underwhelming, where we waited with a bunch of people for the emperor and his family to come to the balcony and wave. Oh! I forgot. We were also given paper Japanese flags, and when the family came out, everyone madly waved their flags and all you could see was little red circles and all you could hear was the whooshing of the wind against the paper.
And that’s that about Tokyo. Tami came back to Kagoshima with me, where we did a bunch of touristy stuff even though it rained the whole time she was here. I also introduced her to the wonders of Joyfull, but that may have to wait for another entry.
1 comment:
you are staying another year? whoa! do you remember when you and i were meandering about the calgary stampede grounds and you were trying to convince me to come with you? remember? congatulations on things going so well over there.
p.s. the instrument the kiddies were playing is called a melodica. oh, and back to the future and goonies pretty much sums up my entire childhood... or at least they were movies i watched five billion times as a child. i miss you dearly and hope to see you soon.
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