Japan 2006 - Tokyo

I'm feeling nostalgic today, and so have decided to reach all the way back to 2006 to pull in my notes from my trip to Japan. Here's the first of two entries, originally sent as emails to friends and family.

Hey everyone... I made it to Osaka, and am now staying at Lisa's place. She and her roommate have a huge, nice apartment almost right next to the park in which Osaka's castle is situated. After a few very busy days in Tokyo (my hostel was not in a location that was convenient for mid-day rest stops, so I pretty much went from dawn til dusk on my feet -- the absence of any public seating of any kind anywhere in the city didn't help, either) I'm taking a day off today. Slept in til 1*30, actually, so evidently I needed the break. Apologies for any bizarre punctuation, by the way... things aren't always where you expect them to be on a Japanese keyboard.

Anyway Tokyo was pretty fantastic, if totally overwhelming. The subway system there is ridiculous. It's very convenient once you figure out where you're going, but with a dozen or so different lines, the stations are enormous and finding your way to the right platform can involve a five-minute walk. That's not to mention the fact that there are also rail lines run by different companies. In Shinjuku, for instance, there are actually five stations named "Shinjuku station", each on a different line, and all connected by a maze of underground walkways. And then, of course, there are the people; the biggest station in Shinjuku handles two million riders a day, apparently. Luckily I was never squished into a rush-hour train myself, but navigating the flow of pedestrian traffic is still pretty much a nightmare. I haven't even mentioned the pedestrian overpasses, above-ground walkways, or the fact that many of the downtown train stations are several stories above ground level. It really is insane.

So, a bit about the city itself: it is incredibly enormous. It's twice as big, three times as bright, four times as confusing, and six times as incessant as I thought. The crowds were about the only thing i adequately envisioned. New York may be the city that never sleeps, but Tokyo is the city that never even sits down. Seriously, the park benches aren't the only symptom; many of the eateries are standing-room only, and stands selling bento boxes for commuters seem to be the preferred lunch option. The shopping districts incorporate dozens of different monolithic department stores, each eight storeys tall and a full city block big... sandwiched in between these are these thin, tall buildings, with a different store on each floor, each with a sign down the side of the building advertising its existence. How anyone ever discovers (or chooses between) anything above the ground floor is a mystery to me. There's a Fifth-avenue style shopping district called Ginza next to what seems to be the modern financial area; there's a beyond-trendy area called Harajuku where all the high-fashion designers (Prada, Louis Vuitton, etc) have their flagship stores, each more architecturally adventurous than the last; there's Shibuya, with insane neon and video screens and all the stores you'd find in a high-end mall aimed at teenagers; and then Shinjuku, with a bizarre mix of department stores, discount clothing stores, and a red light district. I spent some time wandering around all of these areas, and also managed to get to the giant wholesale fish market bright and early on Monday morning. That place is just as enormous as you might expect (given that it's billed as the largest of its kind in the world), and not entirely pleasant all the time, what with the aisles and aisles of dead, dying, frozen or soon-to-be-eaten fish, shellfish, eels, and other critters. Also spent some time in a more "traditional" part of Tokyo called Asakusa, which is more like a normal, livable North American urban neighbourhood, with a nice shrine in it.

All in all, an utterly exhausting city, but one I'd love to go back to.

Dad, by the way, Chicago may be high on your list of Architectural Cities to Visit from a historical point of view, but I'd add Tokyo from a contemporary point of view. Some of the things being built here are awesome (particularly the fashion buildings in Harajuku... if you look through your Architectural Records at home you might find one with the Prada building on the front of it).

Anyway, I'm off for a bit of a stroll (can't spent the WHOLE day doing nothing, although it's already 4:30). Tomorrow I make my first of hopefully three or four visits to Kyoto (Lisa has to work, after all), and on the weekend there's talk of heading to Hiroshima for a night.