Tokyo Mysteries

Along the way I stopped into a coffee shop. All around me normal, everyday city types were going about their normal, everyday affairs. Lovers were whispering to each other, businessmen were poring over spread sheets, college kids were planning their next ski trip and discussing the new Police album. We could have been in any city in Japan. Transplant this coffee shop scene to Yokohama or Fukuoka and nothing would seem out of place. In spite of which — or, rather, all the more because — here I was, sitting in this coffee shop, drinking my coffee, feeling a desperate loneliness. I alone was the outsider. I had no place here.

Of course, by the same token, I couldn’t really say I belonged to Tokyo and its coffee shops. But I had never felt this loneliness there. I could drink my coffee, read my book, pass the time of day without any special thought, all because I was part of the regular scenery. Here I had no ties to anyone. Fact is, I’d come to reclaim myself.

My visit to Tokyo is in-part a vacation, but this is a small part. A while ago, when things were very very bad in my life, I’d always leave the house with my passport and credit card. My idea was that instead of jumping off a bridge, I’d just get on a plane to Tokyo. I have no idea why this was, and why I had decided to go to Tokyo, but I’d made my mind up long before I realised I had. Maybe that was the reason I’m drawn to Haruki Murakami’s books? Maybe the books drew me to Tokyo?

The quote above is from the first ever Haruki Murakami book I ever read, and started my desire to read everything he’d ever written. I often try to explain why I like his books, or indeed what they’re about, but always manage to provide an explanation that falls so far short of what they’re really about. All I can say is that these books resonate with me, although I don’t know if it’s because I wanted to travel to Tokyo beforehand. Of course his books don’t feature a Tokyo that you’d see in a travel brochure, but rather speak to me about the relationships and the feelings of the people featured in these books. His work has been described as “easily accessible, yet profoundly complex”, which is probably why I struggle. Imagine a piece of music that just makes you feel alive, or makes you cry. Then try to explain why you like this piece of music…

Am I going there to discover Tokyo, or myself?

Sleeping

Before I go to Tokyo, I’m going to adjust my sleeping hours to match the local time there, to reduce jet lag. Working out that Tokyo is 8 hours ahead of UK BST; I’m going to have my night’s sleep from 16:00 until 00:00. This means that my working day will be all through the night until about 8:00 UK time. Then my evening will be from then until 4pm UK time.

It’s going to be really hard for a few days, but I’d rather feel like crap when I’m at home with nothing much to do than in Tokyo, where I’ll want to do lots.

I’ll need a sleep mask though…

Tokyo-Ga

Last night – from a recommendation – I watched Wim Wenders’ 1985 film Tokyo-Ga. The film follows Wenders to Tokyo, where he goes in search of the Tokyo depicted in Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu’s films. Wenders tries to understand better the world and universal truths about families and human relationships that the director so incisively, obsessively and repetitively depicted in his films. If these truths are truly universal, Wenders asks, does this world depicted so vividly in Ozu’s films still exist in modern-day Tokyo?

The interesting thing about the film is that Wenders seems to reject interaction with people in Tokyo (other than during interviews by the actor and cameraman from Ozu’s films, near the end). Rather he wanders Tokyo in a ‘Lost in Translation’-like daze. Hypnotised by the pachinko parlours, roof-top golf driving ranges and the bright neon lights of Shunjuku. This detatchment almost felt like he was approaching Tokyo as if he’s watching a film himself, rather than actually being there. An interesting part of the film was the shots of TV’s, showing constant streams of – to the westener – unintelligable programmes, adverts and dubbed films. Wenders also spent a day in a factory that made realistic wax food for use in restaurant display cases. These metaphors seemed to tie together during the film. From the robotic, repeated movements of the golf players – most of whom will never play on a golf course, to the fanatical attention to detail of these wax foods, to the pachinko parlours’ hypnotic movement and noise. This ’static’ movement, to me, seems important. However Wenders film differs greatly from Ozu’s films in that Wenders focuses on the superficial. It seems that Wenders will nto find the Tokyo in Ozu’s films, but the real answer – for me – is in the way that Ozu approached Tokyo, and the people there.

Communication

Reading an SG article Your Phone’s Off The Hook, But You’re Not about communications in Japan, it seems that they, like us, use a lot of text-based messaging on their phones. Honestly I could just do away with the phone part of my…erm….’phone’, as I’d much rather use SMS to contact someone. One of my pet hates is to SMS someone, then they call me back with a reply. Quite often I use SMS in a place I don’t really want to have a call, and more often than not I’m busy doing something, and a call stops me doing anything else. ‘Asynchronous’ text messages are much better for being able to do other things. Also it’s possible to send a text to multiple people at once, which is handy for arranging a night out. Apparently Japanese don’t really use SMS, but rather email through their phone which costs less. My phone has a push email setting, but my provider tells me this could “be expensive”. I guess if you have your call plan set to what you use most, then it’s cheaper. The email push uses up my online time, but my phone plan is tailored to sending texts mostly, rather than calls, including data calls.

The article appeared on the RSS feed in my Netvibes, and the reason I read it was that I was trying to decide if I need to hire a mobile when I’m in .jp. I think I might anyway, but I am taking my Macbook out with me, although this is more for updating my blog and getting on the Internet. There are a load of Internet cafes around obviously, but it’s nice to have my own machine there with me. Also, I need my own machine to be able to get photos from my camera and upload them to Flickr too.

Guitar Hero

In preparation for Japan, I thought I needed to get some experience with traditional Japanese cultural pastimes, so today I got Guitar Hero II for my Playstation 2. I’ve fancied it for ages, especially after watching some wicked videos on YouTube.

I’ve been playing it now for about 7 hours, and I’ve (in the worlds of Dire Straits) “got a blister on my thumb”, and whenever I close my eyes, all I can see are dots flying around. I’m pretty sure I’ll be dreaming about it tonight. It’s such a cool game though, and I’m sure will be good when I have people over, as the music is great. I went through the game on easy mode, and now going through on medium. Some of the tracks are really hard, but the ones I find easier are the ones I know a bit better; Anthrax, Lamb of God, Rage Against the Machine etc.

Rock on!

Booking a Tour

I’m not really going to do the tour thing, but I read on Anime News Network about free tours of Akihabara for foreigners. I went to the Akihabara Tour website, and entered my details, and have booked for the Saturday that I’m in Tokyo. Sunday I’m going to head to Harajuku anyway, so it’s nice to have something booked for the Saturday. The two-hour walk covers Radio Kaikan (Kotobukiya figures, K-Books dōjinshi/goods), Electric Town (electronics, duty-free shops), Tsukumo Robot Kingdom (robotics), and UDX Building (Tokyo Anime Center).

Learning Some Language

For the trip, I’m trying to learn a bit of Japanese, really just so I can try to ask for some things in Japanese and not looking like an ignorant gaijin. I’m sure that I can get by in English – which is really just as well – but I do want to make the effort, and I’d love to learn more Japanese anyway.

The other day I bought a CD, but it’s really awful – just random statements to repeat with no logical progression throughout. I’ve been looking for another, and found the Earworms’ “Rapid Japanese” audiobook on iTunes. it’s such a strange audio learning experience as it’s designed to chill out and let the sounds of the Japanese phrases just wash over you. The basis is two people having a conversation about how things are said, and a Japanese voice repeats the phrases over chill-out drum and bass background music. I like it I have to say! Much better than the horrible music and voices in lots of language CD’s.

Also there is the JapanesePod101 podcast which I found on iTunes, which has lots of free podcast lessons.

Planning the Trip

I thought I’d add something into the blog as a sort of first entry before I leave. Ok, so it’s now about 4 weeks until I leave, and I’m just reading up about Tokyo and working out things I want to do when I’m there.

The thing with somewhere as large as Tokyo, is that I could end up not actually getting much done as I could gets swamped with the size of it all, so I asked some people about places to visit.

They suggested:

For the ultimate cliche, head straight over (tired, jetlagged and all) to Shibuya.

Yoyogi and Harajuku are nice and draw weird people, esp. on Sundays (when streets are given to pedestrians in many places). The areas south of Shibuya (forgot the names) are more laid back but just as funky.

Akihabara is Blade Runner territory, go after dark. The robot shop is my favorite. Some really weird anime shops there as well.

Go to Tsukiji fish market as early as possible, like 5 or 6 AM. It’s worth it.

During rush hour, get a ticket on the Yamanote-line and head to Shinjuku station. Stay in the station and find the busiest spot and stand there for a couple of minutes. Now try to stay sane.

Nearby, there is a nice view from the top of the city hall and old fashioned bars on the other side of the tracks.

The Roppongi Hills shopping center is nice, good view also. The Roppongi nightlife center is a bid dodgy to my taste.

There’s great, great food in the street next to the main shopping street in Ginza. But then, you can’t really go wrong anywhere when it comes to food…

If you’re into game arcades, check them out. I like the Taiko No Tatsujin series a lot, and they’re not available in Europe.

Best stay I had was in Cerulean Tower, Shibuya. 40th floor room including a bathroom with panoramic view over Shibuya square towards Shinjuku, Lost in Translation style. Not cheap though.

I like the Shiba Park Hotel as well, more affordable and in a nice quite part of the city, some rooms have free broadband internet.

In Tokyo, don’t forget Asakusa area for a taste of traditional Japan.There are neat things waiting around every corner. And Omotesando is great for chic coffee shops, cafes and people watching. You’ll have a great time. As was already mentioned, Kamakura is a great place to spend a day.

I’m actually staying in the Shiba Park Hotel, so I’m happy that I’ve found somewhere decent. The first time I went to NY, I booked into a reasonably priced hotel, but it was a little strange, and the room was so small you had to climb over the bed to get to the bathroom – which was a triangular room made out of the corner of the bedroom. The strangest thing was that someone lived in the next door room, which was the same size – but crammed with stuff too. Oh, and the lift gave you massive electric shocks too!