The last samurali

Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Ikebukuro
March 27th 2010

Published: April 3rd 2010

Well, it's my last day in Tokyo, in fact it's my last day of holiday. Boo!
I feel like I've spent most of my time here travelling from place to place on the metro, so today I'm going to walk around more, try and get my bearings in this metropolis.
I start of by going to the Kabuki theatre to try and book tickets do this evening, when I get there I find a queue around the block, a complete mix of people waiting to get in. I find out that kabuki starts early and that the play will go on all day, you can either watch the whole day or watch acts independently. I also find that this evenings performances of this famous play, SUGAWARA DENJU TENARAI KAGAMI (Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy), are sold out. I join the queue for this mornings 1/2 hour act. It's fascinating just watching the queue, there are all cultures snaking down the street to watch this historic art, although you can't tell where the queue ends. When I get in I find I'm stood right at the back of the theatre, seats are only allowed if you are staying all day, i must be 50 rows back and 50 feet up in the air but the view of the simple stage is excellent and I have no trouble hearing the actors, understanding yes, but hearing no.
The acting is simple and my lack of understanding the language doesn't impair my following the plot. The costumes are extreme, with fancy kimonos and White painted faces, the style of play is song, dance and monologue, all mixed in with a touch of pantomime as the audience shout, obviously well known phrases, from the gods. Overall it's a very sureal experience, but at the end of my half hour I'm disapointed to be leaving.
From here I pick up my bento box and make my way to the Meiji jingu shrine. I begin by purifying myself, taking water from the spring and washing my hands and mouth and finally the ladle. I am now clean to offer my prayers to anyone who maybe listening. The shrine is majestic, the large square before the red and gold open sided building is crisscrossed, on this Saturday morning, by wedding processions, brides in stiff, starched White kimonos and their husbands in stark black suits, babies are blessed by parents in there best clothes in the cleansing springs. From here I stop and eat my lunch in the park suroundings, my bento box has prawn rice, spicy fried chicken and pickles, I wash it down with iced oolong tea and follow it up with wasabe ice cream, surprisingly this sweet, peppery horseradish flavour is really yummy.
I go for a walk through the streets of shibuya, noted for it's boutique and individual shops, they are out of my price range but i wander through the small lanes, looking in art gallerys and at the second hand shops that mix with designer jewels and hand stitched shirts. Even here out of the centre of the city the buildings tower above me and although the sun is shining it's being stolen but all the penthouses and down here on the street you are in shaded second hand light. The city is so busy, there are always people around you, there is no escape and it's impossible to feel alone. At the train stations you find yourself swept away by the torrent of people and it's impossible to escape, you carry on with the flow until you can find a sliproad, like travelling on the motorway, then you get up to speed before joining the rush in the right direction.
My afternoon has more shrines, Sensoji, here the main thoroughfare is jammed with people walking to the shrine, and overcome tourists escape into the Market stalls lining the road to be sold souvenirs in the relative calm. Unfortunaly the shrine is covered for repair and I can't see it's external splender, but outside a burning of insence is smoking away an assortment of ills, people waft the smoke over themselves, wherever they are hurting, the most commen waft would appear to be over the balding pate of the visiting middle aged men.
In this on square are at least 3 shrines, the two smaller have much smaller offerings but the small stone troughs for cleansing and single incense burners are far more appealing than he gold coated ladles of the main shrine.
The court yard around the shrine is lined with food stalls selling pop corn, squid balls and sugar syrup lollypops. I settle on some fried chicken skewers and wander through the smoky atmosphere admiring the variety. Now it's time for my second onsen experience, a small local one. The expericence is very different, just the one pool and local grandmothers meeting for gossip and cleansing, but I still enjoy myself. Half an hour is enough though, I make my way back down the river to Ginza to take in some Neon in the aproaching darkness, I watch the crossing outside the Sony building, hundreds of people surgeing across the road each time the lights change, there faces reflecting the flourescent pinks, greens and yellows, of the high rised neon.
I walk through the Sony centre, and I'm not that impressed, technolgy must have hit a plateau, nothing is as ground breaking as I hoped, the 3d Tv is good and I love the film that has mario running behind the 2d obsticles, mushrooms and trees, but other than that, they are still playing catch up with apple.
I walk the streets of ginza, prada, tiffanies, are all shut, but the windows are full of way to expensive things to catch your eye.
I've decided to go out for a drink on my last day, I want to try two areas that have been recomended, golden gai and ebusi. They are both on my way home so I try ebusi first, the whole area is recommended but the bar Buri is the one I choose. It's small and compact and I'm instantlly acosted by a drunk American, the barman is excellent and manages to extricate me from his drunken embrace an secrete me at the other end of the bar, where he gives me a drink and allocates 3 Japanese to keep me company, I feel a little manipulated but my 3 new friends are great and want to practice there English so spend the next 5 hours asking and answering questions. Yuki, Yuri and Yuligi are great fun and talk all night, they find a blank piece of paper and we draw pictures and write words that we don't understand, they teach me the rudiments of Japanese as I move from Ali-san to ali-chan and eventually they take me for curry, a fantastic Sri lankan next door, that is part of the none profit organisation they are all involved with, it's fantastic they are all so friendly, they worry constantly that they are invading my space and in my way. It is very difficult to explain that I am truly happy to spend my time with them and that I couldn't have hoped that my last night away would have been so great. I never did get to the golden gai but I can't say I mind. I wend my way drunkenly to my hotel, happy.
As my Japanese adventure draws to a close so does my trip and tomorrow I will fight with a striking BA to travel against time home.

But for now Sionara.

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