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Published: April 25th 2009
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Hmmm, it could be interesting writing this. I’ve just had a hot spring bath at the inn we are staying at in Nikko, and it was bloody hot! But that comes later. I haven’t told you about Tokyo yet.
Tokyo is big. Sorry, that should be Big. Bustling, crowded, hectic, organized, ultra clean. There are almost no rubbish bins to be found anywhere on the street or in the stations, and yet the place is spotless…
As tourists we found ourselves wandering around the government business district during work hours, and we were just about the only ones there, apart from a few small groups of probably-slackers having cigarette breaks. We could have played a game of football on the road. No one there. But then the clock struck twelve, and there was a sea of black suits coming towards us, all making for the cafes and restaurants. Then at about 12:45 the tide turned, and we were just about swept out to sea with the flow back to the offices.
There are train lines criss-crossing the city everywhere, run by four (I think!) systems. The Toei subway, the Tokyo metro, the Keisei metro, and the Japan Rail metro.
Most of the stations overlap, so you can change from one line to another, or another system to another, but as a result, each station is a rabbit warren of layers and levels and bridges and tunnels.
Surprisingly enough though, once you have the time to work out the system, it’s very well sign posted. The station names also show the previous and next stations, and there are pretty good maps that show you the surroundings too. There are even diagrams on the platforms that describe which carriage is the best one to be in in order to be closest to the stairs or an interchange at a particular station. You can make connections easily enough, and if you miss one train, there’s another in a few minutes.
The one thing that sucked though was the ticketing card. As easy as it was to use by just swiping your card on the reader as you walk through, you pay for each trip according to distance. However, one day I spent about Y2000 ($30) on train fares, as there is no daily limit like there is in London (or Melbourne, for that matter). (OK, we caught lots of trains that
day…)
The movement of people at a major station like Shinagawa is a sight to behold. Funnily enough it’s a tiny dot on the metro maps that I have, and yet it had at least four metro lines, and the Shinkansen trains going through 24/7. As a result, there is a constant flow of people moving from platform to platform.
Ok, enough about trains…
The night I arrived in Tokyo, I took myself to Asakusa (pronounced Asak-sa) and after getting a little lost (the northern hemisphere does funny things to my internal compass), I found the capsule hotel that I was planning to stay in. Firstly, take your shoes off at the door, and put them in a locker, inside of which you will find some oversized slippers. You get disapproving points and stares if you wear shoes on the rest of the floor. (I know this how..?!)
Then, even though there’s a bloke right there behind the counter trying to explain in limited English how to do it all, you feed Y3000 ($45)into a vending machine, and get a ticket in return. Hand the ticket plus the key for the locker that holds your shoes to the
man, and he gives you another key that you can wear on your wrist for a locker for your bag, a towel, some PJs, and your capsule number upstairs.
The capsules are pretty interesting. It’s as big as a (small) mattress, and its as high as it is wide, ie not much. There is a TV and radio and an alarm clock, all moulded in to the fiberglass walls. You pull the blind down at the foot of the bed, turn off the light, and, if you’re stuffed like I was, crash! I had to find accommodation for this night, and I could have found a youth hostel (there were three in the area) , but what could be more Japanese than a capsule hotel. The mattress was too thin so it was a rock hard sleep, but it was worth the experience. The next morning, I didn’t ask anyone else if there was any loud snoring… I didn’t hear any!
Asakusa is a very popular place on a Sunday, as there is a large shrine there, which was pretty cool to see. I went on a free guided tour from the tourist centre, led by
Harajuku girl
I am singer. I have CD. Hiroshi-san, which was just for me and one other guy who lived a little way out of Tokyo and hadn’t been before. Plenty of rituals to experience and sights to see.
I then found my way to the hotel in Shinagawa, where the ten day photo tour started from, and where we would spend three nights. I dumped my bags, and then left to make my way to Harajuku. There is a large shrine there in the middle of a park. This is also the place where people come in dress-up clothes, or cosplay. Accordingly, lots of tourists like myself come armed with cameras to photograph these normally restrained people letting loose in public once in a while. The costumes ranged from what looked like hospital patients to, um well, no idea what they were trying to achieve! Either way, it was outrageous for them. Further around the corner was where the 50s style rockabillys went to slick back their (very big)hair and dance to Bill Haley and the Comets blasting out of their CD players.
The next day saw us visit the Tokyo fish markets. We arrived about 7am, which was too
late for the tuna auctions, but we still had a few hours to wander amongst the stalls and stands. This activity saw us taking our lives into our hands, not only for the amount of sharp knives, but the bicycle and motorized buggy traffic was constant and fast. I can’t say I saw anything particularly exotic, but I was surprised to see how big tuna fish are. The art of slicing them apart with 2m long knives was interesting, with the huge chunks of meat then further reduced sometimes down to sushi sized pieces.
We also visited Akihabara, otherwise known as Electric Town. Everything from cameras to computers to components, covering four blocks in so many buildings. Many would have a huge range on the first floor, and then a further range for specific things like SLR cameras on one of the six floors above. Picture JB Hifi on the ground floor, with another six layers… Another building was full of individual shops, each about the size of the inside of the front seats in your car. There would be a guy sitting inside his selection of whatever his specialty of electronic components was. I have no idea why
you’d want to sit in a shop all day and sell a capacitor for 10 cents to someone, unless you were doing it on a large scale…
Akihabara was also home to Manga shops. Manga is very popular in Japan, with lots of people reading them on the trains. It’s written (drawn?) for all ages, some of it far more adult in content than others… I could also tell you all about the DVD shop I went into, but this blog is rated G. Suffice to say that for such a restrained lot, there were some very weird choices of fantasy available for your private viewing pleasure.
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