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Published: August 8th 2007
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We knew we had to return to Tokyo as soon as we left that city at the beginning of our journey through Japan. It is one of those places which has such an amazing feel to it that just being there is an experience in itself. This time it was Saturday so Niklas was so kind to show us around, doing his tour guide impression for the weekend. As we had been all templed out in the rest of Japan, we decided to give these bits a miss and go see the cultural sights of Tokyo and discover a bit more about the people who live in this vast city. First stop was Harajuku park where you can see teenagers performing in the hope to be discovered. They sing, dance and dress to impress. The day we went was pretty quiet apparently, but there was plenty of "talent" on display, and a whole heap of exerbisionism Japanese style. The further you walk the more crazy it gets. At some point you will pass the Rockabilly dancers (on a Sunday) who perform to 50's music and go mad on the pavement. They are a pretty famous staple of Harajuku, and quite rightly
so, as the dance moves and quiffs on display where truely exceptional. The Japanese are really deadly serious about it too, despite the fact that they all look like ludicrous extras from an Elvis competion. Further in you will find Japanese distributing free hugs to the world. Very cool! Then we went and explored the streets around the area which are full of fashion stores where you can kit yourself out to look as mad as everyone else there. Whilst there was some crazy fashion on show, you can really see the conformity of the Japanese here, as they dress all in the same in their little groups. I guess it is the same all over, Emo's, Chavs etc..... but in Japan it is even more evident. You know what they say, birds of a feather stick together (english saying). It was here that Niklas picked up an AMAZING magic puppet 😊
That evening we met up with Niklas'es friends to go to see a JPop Band. Not knowing what to expect we walked down some dark stairs to a dark place and we found ourselves in the middle of a punk concert. More correctly it was a Jpunk
concert, or even more correctly the style is called Tokyo Righton! I was told. The place was like a tiny dindgy basement room, which is how all good clubs should be in Andy's eyes, so the first impression was good. We where greeted at the door by one of their friends with his tatoos, spikey hair and split twin beard, yet another good ohmen. It was great to see japanese guys and gals bahaving themselves like nowhere else during a punk concert. Everyone had enough space to watch the band, everything appeard very friendly and sophisitcated. There was certaintly no pushing or even any sudden movements of any kind at the start. This was like no other concert we had ever been to, all very pleasent but still very loud. Even the singers were still bowing their heads and saying "Arigato!" to the crowd. Once again, in another display of conformity, the hardcore in the crowd all gave the 1 fingred salute contstantly, as every good punk should. The bands actually turned out to be pretty good, bashing out some decent punk which was a surprise. The highlights were definitly the girl band Super Baby Face and the headliners Brain
Shy Guy
This chap was facing the road in his own little world. He was singing Roxy Music or something I think. All a bit sinsiter Buster.
Once Brain Buster took to the stage, we saw why they had top billing. They all wore nothing but little leather thongs, and were covered in body paint. It was at this point the crowd got a bit more rowdy, as if someone had told them all what to do and when. A bit of a pushing moshpit developed, but it was all so pleasent and there was no danger of anyone getting hurt. They all had smiles all round, and the shoving was as civilised as it possibly could be. I have actually seen more mallace from the guys in white gloves who shove people onto the subway trains in rush hour. Take a look at the pictures for a full picture of what it was like, words cannot really describe the artistic genius that is Brain Buster.
Despite being such a big city you feel always safe in Tokyo, even if it is in the middle of the night. Very remarkable. It is also a very clean and friendly city. Apparently as soon as you ask a japanese person for help it becomes their problem and they will not let you go until it is solved.
That is why a japanese person will always lead you to the place you want to go and not just show you roughly in which direction to go. That also explains why they sometimes try to avoid you, while you are looking lost. It is not because they are rude, it is because they genuinely have no time to help you.
Blogging from Japanese computers could also be sometimes a bit frustrating. To write in Japanese you have to change the keyboard to kangi and we somehow continued to hit the "evil kangi button". It was not as simple as hit the same button again to un-kangi the keyboard, lol, so we spent some time hitting various combinations until we found it back to the known alphabet.
On Sunday Niklas took us to an office block which you could go up to enjoy a great view of Tokyo for free! He also proved to us that Japanese love everything new. Apparently Burger King lost the fast food war with Mc Donalds years ago and therefore Japan was for a long time Burger King free. Now the first branch reopened in Tokyo. When we passed the "novelty" we saw
Brainbuster
In full flow huge queues and loads of japanese waiting patiently to get their share, so there were still queues 3 months after the opening! Our final night in Tokyo was spent eating. What else would you expect from such traveling gourmets as us !!!! This time it was the turn of the Yakiniku which is essentially an in-table-BBQ DIY affair. Once again Japan impressed with the food, and we BBQ'd several types of meat and vege , washed down with a pitcher of beer. Yet again it was time for us to move on, and we waved a sad farewell to Niklas and Tokyo. We would love to come back someday as it really is a place that has got into our blood. Just the buzz of being there makes you feel alive!
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playingtourist
Denise M Watkins
Fun Spirits !
You guys look like you are having a great time , enjoying the reading , keep it coming ! Stay Safe, Denise