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Published: September 14th 2008
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Tokyo is Lewis Carrol's Technicolor wet dream. New York on LSD. If London had an illegitimate love child with Hunter S. Thompson, and that child did shrooms, it would be Tokyo. We've been some strange places in our time, but never anything like this. Tokyo is the crazy homeless man who stands on the corner screaming the world's most nonsensical gibberish at the top of his lungs, thoughts so chaotic and loud that you change your path to work just to walk by him everyday, thanking God that you are able to witness such uncompromising madness. I, my friends, am a lover of anarchy. At least on the small scale. I love when the teleprompter drops on live tv and the anchors struggle not to drown under their own banality. I love interception returns in football, watching a guy who shouldn't be running with the ball, with blockers who shouldn't be blocking, being tackled by guys who shouldn't be tackling. I love cats eating spaghetti. I believe that life is a game of Plinko where the value comes not from where the chip finally lands, but in those fickle bounces where the it comes careening randomly off the pegs. This is
Shibuya Crossing
absolute madness why I love Tokyo. The city somehow manages to be one of the cleanest, safest, most financially successful places in the world while never relenting in its constant pursuit inducing a brain aneurysm.
Needless to say, Jenny and I kicked off the new leg of our travels with a bang. The opening stop of our three month tour of the Pacific rim brought us to the isles of Japan. After a very long day of transit, more than 36 hours on the clock, we finally had a chance to accomplish the one thing we both dreamed of the entire flight from LA: sleep. Our first evening in Tokyo was sacrificed in order to placate the angry gods of jet lag. Apparently the gods were not completely pleased as we ended up waking the next morning dark and early. Dark because the sun's not out at 4:30am. This ostensibly awful happening actually offered a very cool opportunity. Our early rise gave us a chance to visit the Tsukiji fish market. It is the largest fish market anywhere in the world but can only be appreciated in the early morning hours while the fish continue to stream in and chefs rummage
through the selection before the place is overrun by tourists. What a selection we found. Aisles of vendors selling an unimaginable variety of seafood twisted in a massive semicircle that encompasses several acres. Everyday more than 5 million dollars changes hands and it's easy to understand why. The world's most fish obsessed culture with the world's premium supply of seafood makes the numbers sound modest. Some of the fish were so fresh they were still alive, weighed, labeled, even seasoned but still slithering. Of course when confronted with this display, one can only make one choice for breakfast: sushi. The exterior of the market is lined with local sushi joints on every block. We picked a place had a line of locals out the door (always the indicator of the best food) and went to town. Now I am not a sushi man, never really had the hootspa to try it, but i figured if I'm gonna like it anywhere i will like it here (report from the future: it appears that i won't like it anywhere). Jenny, my better 2/3 on the other hand is a sushi disciple who was experiencing a dream come true. I was glad to
witness as she had her equivalent to my Argentine steak moment.
After we got our meal in, we knew that we had ample time to fill since waking up before the sun leaves a lot of hours in your day. We filled the next two days sampling as much as we could of the endless spectrum that Tokyo has to offer. We toured amazing parks with lotus flowers and acrobats. We played with all of next year's gadgets at the Sony building. At night, the city lights up in an explosion of electric confetti. It's a never-ending fireworks show on every street. Just walking down the alleys of Shibuya or Shinjuku is an experience that can't be quantified. You just stare upwards, gasping to yourself "Wow, I'm in Tokyo." Even a chance to step back an observe the city from a height that would normally soften the chaos in Tokyo Tower only showed its unbelievable breadth.
All this insanity was complimented by the incredible lifestyle of the Japanese themselves. They find a way to exist in the world's most hectic city while living a life built on ideals of honor and discipline that date back several millenia. It's
Mike ate Sushi!
only once, don't expect any more a city where one crosswalk can have a few hundred people crossing at any given time and no one runs into anyone else. You can't open a subway map for a few seconds without a random stranger offering help. The kindness and politeness that underlies every single social interaction makes such and intimidating city ever so accessible. Their ancient roots manifest themselves in some of the most interesting ways. Jenny's favorite is their obsession with animals. Early Japanese religion was based on the practices of animism. Each animal carried a spirit that had a hand in controlling the world. Today this lineage results in anything and everything being plastered with adorable creatures. Even the message on public notices like signs on the subway warning of the dangers of falling on the track are delivered by a fuzzy raccoon with a comically disproportionate head. Unfortunately, the cost involved in Tokyo made our visit ever so brief. It's left an lasting impression. The next destinations have a lot to live up to.
Microphycisists will tell you that on it's most fundamental levels, the world exists on principles of disorder and randomness. Any attempt to quantify the moments of fundamental particles is
Plastic food
The Japanese are obsessed with it an exercise in frivolousness. Somehow that chaos builds into the regimented order we see in the everyday world. Tokyo exists on this same principle, brought to the macro scale. Confusion leads to order, anarchy builds function, bedlam brings beauty.
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Kimi Bennett
sweet
hello there, just a random-passerby. wanted to say i enjoyed your blog entry. ive never been to tokyo, but from your description, it sounds like a wonderfully crazy and fun place! by the way, the steak in argentina moment you talked about--i cant wait to experience that myself when i go this spring! enjoy the rest of your travels.