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Published: October 4th 2007
Tokyo sleeps...
lantern lit alley ways guided us along...As of yet, our days in Asia seem to be outlined, in some way or another, by our jet-lag and erratic sleep patterns. The early mornings have remained quiet sanctuaries and the faded dusk has been the backdrop for slumber. Our last few days in Tokyo were very much a mixture of wanting to see the sights and experience this culture that seems to be stitched together with contradiction, and being painfully aware of the fact that our schedules would be somewhat restricted by budget. Luckily, there is no shortage of sights in any city...
Our second day at Backpacker Hostel Caty and I woke up well before day break so we decided to go wander around the neighborhood. We wandered through the twisting alleys led along by cloth lanterns that hung on every terrace and doorway. It was a dimly lit and rose colored passage that guided us. Hidden among the alleyways were small, narrow parks with lush vines that struggled to cover up the small statues that created a bronze zoo of birds, fish, elephants, horses, lions and other animals. The flowers on the bushes and trees gave us their daily offerings in colors and scents as dawn
Tokyo sleeps 2...
Rose colored passage began to break over the city. We meandered back in the company of the birds waking and the alley cats slithering off to sleep.
After eating a breakfast of Miso soup (with noodles added so I could work on my slurping), the rest of the hostel's sleeping inhabitants were rousted out of bed by what sounded like thunder. We all stumbled up the stairs (as the hostel is located in a basement...yes, interesting) and spilled into the street in time to see a stream of people beating various sized drums pass by. They were trailed by groups of people carrying what looked like elaborately decorated temples on sedans hoisted up on their shoulders. Though the temples were minature versions, and in no way does minature mean small, the people carrying them were dancing down the street, skipping, squatting and bouncing along as if they were carrying clouds.
After solemnly and discreetly asking a few people what this sacred display was honoring, we we learned that it was 'a celebration for fun'. There was apparently nothing solemn about the occasion. This became obvious when we took a closer look around and saw the laughter and costumes, particularly those worn by
Tokyo sleeps 3...
More sleeping streets... the men, which consisted of brightly colored headbands (many of which were neon pink), white robes that came to just
above the crease of the buttox-cheek, and a sort of sling/banana-hammock to hold their naughty bits. and Nothing Else. that was it. Interestingly enough, there was no equivalent costume for the women- go figure.
We later leaned the name of the festival- the Fukuro Matsuri festival.
We followed the festivities around the neighborhood for awhile and decided we were hungry so Caty and I ventured into one of the places we had seen and passed up the day before. Immediately when we walked in, on either side of the doorway there were machines that looked almost like vending machines. There were many buttons with small, barely discernable pictures corresponding. We stared and mulled over what the machines were when we figured out that you are supposed to put in your money, press the buttons next to the picture you find most appetizing, and take the ticket that pops out. We sat down at one of the tables and a person came over and took the tickets, and about five minutes later brought out the food that was shown next
to the buttons we pressed...amazing!! Unfortuanely, Caty and I both happened to pick foods that primarily consisted of mystery meat, so after much picking and seperating, we were able to enjoy our meal. Of course, 'enjoy' is a reletive word... we were informed later that we had eaten lunch at Japan's version of McDonalds...
Once our stomachs reluctantly digested our meal, and we had a little down time (we had been up for hours at that point), we, with the company of a trio of Swede boys and our Aussie friend, Evalyn, went to check out the sights at Takeshita St. What they call a street is actually a congested, consumer's foot-path. You can stand at the entrance and look down the sloping lane to the other end and take in the sights that way, or you can venture in. Of course, we went right in. Takshita St. is renowned for the people that hang out there, and rightly so because it was similar to a smaller version of St. Marks Place on magic mushrooms and laughing gas...or what I imagine that would be like... 😊 Much of the younger crowd was dressed in the ultimate goth get-up---fishnets, cut
off finger gloves, black lipstick, red and black stripes with skulls, all accented by hot pink, of course...(because whats tougher and moodier than hot pink??) They all looked like they stepped out of the anime version of a Tim Burton movie... In shockingly stark contrast, weaving amongst the black and red clad youths were girls dressed in frilly, pastel dresses, bonnets and saddle shoes. Their faces were painted like porcelin dolls, with powder pink cheeks, berry red lips and and long eyelashes. Many carried parasols and oversized, fluffy purses. They looked like exaggerated renditions of Little Bo Peep, only
they reminded me of the lost sheep. Takeshita St. proved to be an assault on the senses, and we quickly walked the length of it and left.
The next day Caty and I decided to go see more sights. We headed off early to Shabuya Crossroads, which is one of the largest foot traffic intersections in the city. Being New York natives, we had to see what this was all about, and we were skeptical. After coming out of the metrostation, we found the intersection and waited for the light to turn. The intersection was made up of five corners,
and on each of the corners, high on one of the buildings, was a gi-normous t.v. screen with various music videos, ads, and commercials being shown. It was completely overwhelming. As we waited we found ourselves getting surrounded by more and more people, and we could feel the surge coming. Then the light turned... caty and i managed to shuffle aside so that we could watch the show from the sidelines. I do not lie when I say that i haven't seen anything like it in New York. There were so many people coming from each side all merging in the middle. The crossing took a good two minutes before the larger part of the masses were out of the center. From a higher vantage point in the five story Starbucks across the street (which, by the way, had all the drinks in English...yay globalization and Corporate America... :-( ) it looked like ants swarming on a fallen crumb. It was amazing!
When we tired of that scene we headed off to see Tokyo Tower, the architectural apple of Tokyo's eye. On the way there we got sidetracked by one of the larger temples we had seen yet. It
Fukuru Matsuri Festival 4
I see London, I see France...where are your underpants?? was a little off the main street and when we approached it we saw that it was closed. When we walked around the main courtyard we saw shrines around the side and in the back. When we went to explore we saw that they resembled cemetaries, with shrines in rows, terraced along the hill running along the base of the buildings and nestled in the corners and crannies. It was silent, with all the sounds of the traffic from the main road dropping away. The sky was heavy with clouds, making a light, white blanket, blending with the slate grey color of the shrines, seperating us from the rest of the world while we wandered among the cascading memories enveloped in the musky scent of the incense left as offerings to the dead. Elegant, vibrant flowers were placed at the base of many of the stones, their bright colors paying homage to remembered lives beneath dull grey grief. Dragon fly pairs lilted along the paths leading us past lotus flower graves. And as the first drops of rain began to fall cool on our skin, we left, looking over our shoulders at the ancient realm nestled within the modern, jagged
Takeshita St.
From the top... city.
A couple of days later, we left Japan to go to Thailand. On the plane ride, while musing over the first week of our trip, I couldn't help but think about the culture we were leaving behind. It was, at the same time, just what I had expected and nothing like what I had imagined. The thing that struck me most was how a culture could live simultaneoulsy in such harmony amidst so many contradictions. I thought about the people whose foundation was that of immense, graceful, humble spirituality, present in the temples and shrines scattered throughout the city. These same people act as the technology leaders in our world, putting out cutting edge innovations at an astonishing speed. This was portayed, in a very literal fashion at Takeshita St. Both the demure and the bold walking side by side, striving for attention. It is present in the food, provided by machine and by artists. And it is present in the landscape, with cherry trees, vines, and flowers struggling to break through the pavement towards the sun. It made me eager to see what Thailand, The Land of Wats (temples) and Smiles held for us...
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Mindee
non-member comment
You girlies are so cute! I love the "self pic's" Liz and I have one for every trip we have been on together...a before and an after! I love you guys!