Neon Lights

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January 1st 2010

Published: January 3rd 2010

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pammu

Omotesando

Wendy's Store

Can one write a travel blog about the city one lives in? How do we define travel, what boundaries need to be crossed to term an excursion a travel. In a stationary state, would a changing of a season constitute a travel. The colours of a tree are different in spring and fall. A snow covered street in winter, is a blazing furnace in summer. Is passing through different states of mind a travel?
‘An immigrant is always an immigrant' says Lowji Daruwalla in John Irving’s ‘A Son of the Circus’. His purpose in making that statement is to discourage his son from leaving India. But that statement is probably my excuse for writing a travel blog about a city which has been my home for close to 3 years.

When the mind lives in a state of passing , every step we take is a journey. Home is a notional place, a country we go to for a few days every year and find more confusing than the foreign country we live in. We live and understand a place, which will be always foreign to us, and a land growing foreign with every passing day, is still perceived as

Omotesando

Omotesando Hills

home.
The Christmas -New Year period is Japan is a season of dull cold days and visually resplendent evenings . The occasional sunshine is an aberration to the otherwise gloomy days which cry out and point towards the nights. The nights, however, are neon hazed , illuminating but still providing a veiled anonymity.
Going against practice, religion adapts itself to the Japanese . Only the convenient practices are adopted and customized for collective pleasure purposes. Less than 0.5% of the Japanese population is Christian, however Christmas is a popular event with the populace. Cakes are bought, presents exchanged and parties held in the name of this festival, yet it is not a national holiday. And the very purpose behind the festival has no relevance.
It is more like a movie release, a generated hype, an emotional pitch for buying the tickets, and total amnesia afterwards until the next season comes along. It’s like a religion without God involved. A celebration for the sake of a celebration with no faith or belief to dilute it.
I had an interesting discussion with a colleague last week. He , a conservative, concerned at the dilution of values in Japan, commented that the reason

Omotesando

Another Street view

people are losing values is because they do not have a strong religious base. I had a different view, I believe the loss of values is the price we pay for progress. However the strength of Japan is the lack of religious hindrances. Enjoyment is for the sake of enjoyment and not to appease gods. Funerals are celebrated with beer and chocolates, and these are also offerings for the dead.
The purpose of this blog is to visit places around Tokyo, photograph the illuminations and capture the spirit in photographs and words. I am going to set out on evenings, cold and draughty now, with my faithful camera and a tripod and try to capture the spirit of Tokyo as shown in its Christmas/New Year illuminations.
The man sleeping in the opposite seat is holding a camera and a tripod. I feel empathy glowing through me, recognizing a fellow soldier, out on a cold winter night trying to capture the beauty of a city. Then I see a book clutched tightly in his fist has the unworldly title of ‘Cute Photographer’. There is no doubt that it’s a Japanese title and I don’t have to rack my brains trying to

Omotesando

The Dior Store at Omotesando

figure out how a book can make a photographer cute. It is obviously is a beginners guide, and my fellow warrior is going to turn real cute once he goes through the book. When digital cameras turn everybody into photographers, and the internet turns everybody into a writer, ‘Cute Photographer’ is the lubricant on which mediocrity rides on the path to the next stage.
My fuel for this enterprise is the events listing in various newspapers giving the display schedules at various places around Tokyo.

Omotesando

This is the fashion district of Tokyo where Chanel, Hermes, Dior etc rub shoulders with Shakey’s pizza and Wendy’s. It’s a beautiful trendy place meant for the beautiful with wide tree lined avenues and every luxury needed to satisfy vanity available at its shops.
This year , after a gap of nearly 10 years, the Zelokova trees of Omotesando are going to be decorated with illuminations. The primary reason why these illuminations were given up 10 years back is due to the trees getting old. Experiments like lining the avenue with candles were tried out, but the customers complained that they missed the old lights. Coupled with economic recession where businesses are desperate

Roppongi

Street View

to do anything to attract more customers , it was decided to put up around 630,000 LEDs on around 140 trees. Keeping in mind the ageing trees, these LEDs emit only one-seventh of the heat of electric light bulbs used previously.
Around 10 of the trees were deemed too old and were not decorated. These were notices below these trees explaining why they were not decorated. I tried to find the notices but was not able to locate them.
The photos were taken on a cold winter night with temperatures close to zero. I carried my tripod hoping to put it up the pedestrian pathway over the road.
Disappointment 1: There are huge crowds coming for the same reason I have. There is no place to put my tripod anywhere and get a few shots.
Disappointment 2: The pedestrian pathways have been closed for the general public. It’s a good decision keeping in mind the crowds. If everybody climbs on the pathways to take few shots, there is a real danger of them collapsing.
There is a shot of Wendy’s along with the other photos, the main reason being that Wendy’s is closing down in Japan on December 31st. Apparently

Roppongi

Tokyo Tower in the background on a Roppongi Street

the local partner who runs the franchise is not interested in doing so and wants to focus on his own Japanese style restaurants instead. The chilli at Wendy’s has got me through quite a few bad sinus days and I am definitely going to miss it.

Roppongi

Roppongi is overhyped and underestimated at the same time. More infamous than famous, where hustlers, from a certain country in the Southern Hemisphere, with Victorian manners jump you at every corner. I dodge a few “ A very Good Evening to you Sir” and try to find something worth capturing.
Heresy has it that the non-Japanese population of this area now exceeds the local population. Starting as a US Army housing area during the 1950s it has transformed itself into the business and entertainment district of Tokyo.
However, the Keyakizaka street is a bit of a disappointment. The lightings just don’t standout and look no different from any of the other . The only thing noticeable are the illuminations which say Roppongi strung on streetlights.
But for a place where every night is a celebration, a festival does not have sufficient power to increase its relevance.
Other than that

Roppongi

A decorated tree

there is nothing worth clicking, and I head for Roppongi Mid-Town.

Tokyo Midtown Roppongi

The Midtown complex is business, shopping and residential district in the heart of Tokyo. A residential address in any of the surrounding complexes is the sign that you have finally arrived. Many celebrities stay around this area including the infamous Kusanagi from the pop band SMAP.
Developed by the Mitsui Fudosan company, it had shops, cafes, restaurants, even a garden located within it peripheries. The 2000 square- meter area of the garden has been covered with white and blue lights to represent an array of galaxies.
This is a visually stunning place, with enough place within the 2000 square meter garden premises to photograph and roam around the area in peace. The cold winter night is a deterrent but the sheer visual beauty of the garden is enough to make one forget the physical discomforts.

Yebisu Garden Place

Yebisu Beer Brewery existed at the location of this complex. Comprising of around dozen buildings and skyscrapers, it hosts the famous department store Mitsukoshi and the Westin Hotel. Located near the Ebisu station, this area derived its name from the famous beer brand.
A chandelier with

Midtown Roppongi

Fountains in the Foreground

250 soft lights and decorated with 8,472 Baccarat crystals is displayed in this area. An eight meter tall Christmas tree is displayed at the Tokei Hiroba(Clock Square) with sliver and red decorations.
I went there with my wife and son on a comparatively warmer day, arrived in fading daylight. The crowds were starting to build up, but we were able to find an empty bench to sit and watch the area light up.
I had visited the famous Good Day bookstore(Every day is a good Day) located on the other side of the station. Managed to grab a copy of’ Video Night in Kathmandu’, looking forward to reading it.
There was a concert going on near the chandelier, but the crowds were more interested in taking their photographs. It is difficult to get near the Chandelier, and since I don’t have a telephoto lens, the shots are taken from a distance.
The Christmas tree is stunning and so is the ambience of the place in general.

Daiba Memorial Park

There is a 20 meter tall Christmas tree in the Daiba memorial park. With the rainbow bridge in the background this is supposed to be a place to

Midtown Roppongi

Fountain like a witch

take great photographs. The tree is a bit of a disappointment, its only notable feature is its height. However the rainbow bridge makes an excellent background. In addition, the night cruise ships trolling about in the harbor give the scene an attractive look.
The colour fountains are a part of the music show put up by a pop star called Mayo Okamoto. They rise up every half hour, and suddenly subside. I was too far off to catch the music, so cannot comment on it.
The Decks shopping mall is crowded with the shopper looking at Christmas discounts. And the restaurants have long waiting lines. The Indian restaurant I finally find charges as much for a single meal, as I would pay for 3 for a normal lunch at most places in Tokyo.

Marunouchi Lightopia

Marunouchi is the business district of Tokyo. Investment banks dot the landscape and on a normal trading day, people stand along windows displaying the tickers. With the last 2 years being especially hard on investment banks, the need to put up a grand show is obvious. It also touches the Imperial Palace moat, the outer walls of which are illuminated till

Midtown Roppongi

Entrance to the garden

new year.
One of the main attractions was supposed to be about 700 candles placed in water at the Wadakari Funsui Koen(Park). I visited this place after Christmas and missed out this spectacle. However the fountains in lighted in creamy hues are good material.
It was a cold night when I visited this place, disappointed visitors arriving to realize that the candle display was over, my companions being similar disappointed visitors.
And this completed my pilgrimage to the shrines of light around Tokyo city. A brief interlude where bright storefronts take a backseat and the streets light up. A frenzy for a festival with no religion involved anywhere. The only dampener were the zealous preachers roaming around the street of Omotesando , the speakers on top of their can blaring about the coming of the lord,trying to make people realize that there is a religious significance to the lighted streets. But this was lost out on the public .
The significance of Christmas remains in the celebration of lights and ordering of Kentucky Fried Chicken packs month in advance and in a darker way creating the concept of a Christmas cake linked to the age of a certain gender.
There