Did you just grope me? Shall we head to the police?

In one of my blogs about Japanese love hotels, I mentioned about chikan (痴漢, チカン or ちかん) or “train groping”. Japanese transit authorities have done a lot to prevent groping of women on packed trains, such as women-only carriages during peak hours, but unfortunately, it still exists. To combat the problem, Japanese games developer Takahashi created an ‘Anti-Groping’ appli for mobile phones. It was out in 2005, but has recently climbed to number 7 in mobile phone application popularity. The application displays messages on the phone’s screen in bold print to show to the offender; “Excuse me, did you just grope me?”, “Groping is a crime” and finally; “Shall we head to the police?”.

This application shows a lot about Japanese culture (aside from the fact that Japanese are using mobile applications a lot more). I guess in the west, if that happened, then we’d probably shout about it. In Japan, people tend to not want to make that much of a scene, and women are often too embarrassed to say anything out loud. This application allows someone to get the message across to a “train pervert” without having to cause any fuss. Tokyo transit authorities have arrested a large number of people, but it’s estimated that most women don’t report incidents.

In 8 Hours, 38 Minutes…

I will be heading to the airport to leave Japan. It seems like I’ve just arrived, but also that I’ve been here for a long while. I’ve made the most of my visit I think, and seen a lot of Tokyo, but I still ran out of time and missed lots that I wanted to see. Two weeks just isn’t long enough…

There is a lot I will miss about Tokyo; the vending machines, iced coffee in little cans, Mild Seven cigarettes, gothic fashion shops, Harajuku, Akihabara, Shinjuku, the weather (ok, well sometimes it’s a bit warm, but I’d rather be warm than cold – and I was really quite sick of the weather in the UK), the bum-washing toilets…lots really.

My case is packed, which was pretty much empty when I arrived, but it’s full now and really quite heavy. I’ve got my crappy gifts for people (honestly, don’t expect anything actually “good”), and my clothes for the trip are laid out ready. My iPod is charged, PSP is charged, and I have a couple of books in my hand luggage. In retrospect, I’m sad about leaving Japan – but I’ll be back soon…

Sayonara – the word used in Japanese to say goodbye – means; “If it must be so”…

Well, sayonara Nihon… arigato gosai masu!

Japan’s Newest Idol

As I’ve been in the south and west of Tokyo a fair bit recently, I thought I’d go north and east today; up to Ueno and Asakusa (“a-sak-sa”). In the 1600’s, Ueno used to be the adminitrative capital of Edo, which was to become Tokyo, and used to have 36 temples in the area to help ward off evil spirits. I visited Ueno Koen (park) which was Tokyo’s first park, but in 1868 it was the site of the Battle of Ueno between supporters of the Meiji government, and Tokugawa shogun warriors.

Ameyoko is the street market sprawling around the streets surrounding the station. “Ame” used to refer to sweets, so the name meant “confectioners’ alley”, but during the second world war this was the area to get black market goods, mostly from US soldiers, so the “Ame” became synonymous with Americans. There are a huge amount of sweet stalls, but also loads of shops selling all manner of goods “inspired by” other designers.

After Ueno, I visited Asakusa, and the Kannon Temple (Senso-ji), right at the end of a long arcade of covered tourist shops. By and large, they all sell tourist crap, but I bought a bean jam bun from one of the stalls, which was lovely. Just at the gate of the temple, I was interviewed for Fuji TV – so I must now be famous in Japan (^ ^). I reckon I’ll become an idol – so I’m waiting for the phone to start ringing soon! (^_-)-*

It was a bit of a tourist day today, and I have to admit I find the usual tourist things really boring. I’d much rather be experiencing the “real” culture of a place. If this sounds snobbish, I don’t mean it to be – just that I like different things.

The weather today though was so hot! Just unbelievably hot and humid. I thought I was going to pass out at one point, walking down the street – so I stopped at a small Japanese restaurant and had some food. Miso soup, pickles, onigiri rice balls and some watercress salad.

Tomorrow I’m going to complete the sub-centers of central Tokyo by visiting Maranouchi, which is the location of the imperial palace and where Edo castle used to be. As it’s the Odon festival at the moment, I’ve heard it’s open to visitors. The area also has the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Pokemon building – so it’s got it going on (^ ^) Beforehand, I’m going to head to the Tsukiji fish market for the freshest sushi in Tokyo!

Nakameguro again… Harajuku again…

It’s true that Tokyo is an expensive city, but it’s relative really. My tastes happen to be cheaper “regular” type eating places, like kaiten sushi, ramen bars, bento and izakaya places. The things I like to buy are manga art books, music, stationary/pencils, manga, t-shirts and strange stuff such as from ranKing ranQueen. I brought a fair amount of money with me, and people warned me that I would probably run out quite quickly, so take more than I thought I’d need. I brought about £300 in currency for the first few days, and a load in travellers’ cheques, to change when I needed to. So far I’ve been here for a week, and only just got through my currency.

Today though I’ve managed to spend a load of money in one. In Nakameguro yesterday I saw a messenger bag, and thought about it overnight. I decided to go back and get it today. I spent far too much on it, and it’s my most expensive bag – but it’s really very cool. It’s made of recycled rubber inner tubes and car seatbelts, and decorated with puncture repair kit patches. They suggest you apply your own patches too to make it more individual.

Speaking of spending money. I went into Loveless in Aoyama yesterday evening, and it’s probably my favorite shop so far. The entrance is a staircase down into the basement, looking like a cave entrance. You arrive in a dark, but airy shop with loud music playing and an assortment of really cool things around; clothes, interior decor objects, music, books etc – it even has a bar along one wall of the shop, but I wasn’t sure if that was for real or not – it looks really cool though. Downstairs from this floor is another floor carrying some amazing clothes – all with amazing price tags. The staff in there were very nice, very cool and very very cute! (^ ^) They do a free style magazine with purchases, and this issue featured photography by a few different photographers, one of which is a Flickr contact – it’s a small art world! I bought a really ostentatious green wooly hat with a huuuge bobble, and a Loveless party CD.

As it’s Sunday today, I’ve spent the day in Harajuku, threading my way through the hoards of tourists crowding around the cosplay people on the bridge. What you don’t see in the photographs of the Harajuku people are the millions of people around them taking photographs. People tend to sit around in the shade at the end of the bridge, and around them is a moving wall of people taking photographs.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll do the traditional culture thing, but I’m enjoying the pop culture a lot. I did want to go to Tsukiji fish market – but that’s a really early start, and I’m now used to the time change, so I’ve fallen into my normal sleeping patterns of about 2am to 10am. That’s 6pm until 2am UK time if you’re texting or phoning.. (^_-)-*

It seems like so long ago that I arrived here, but I thought today for the first time about going back home. Other than seeing my lovely friends, that thought fills me with dread…

I really like it here.

Ikebukuro, is coming like a ghost town (and Nakano)

There is a large building in Ikebukuro called the Sunshine 60 Building – part of the Sunshine City Complex, housing shops, restaurants, an observatory, an aquarium, a ghost theme park and lots of offices etc. Apparently it was one of the first big shopping/entertainment centers, but it’s since been eclipsed by the other complexes such as Roppongi Hills et al. I went to have a look at it, though not really for the shopping, but I’d heard there was a strange ghost theme park on the 2nd and 3rd floors, that does really good gyoza, called Namjaland (with something to do with Namco I understand).

Eventually I found the place, and paid my ¥300, and went in. It’s a really compac, and decidedly Japanese and strange place. It does have a really good area, designed to look like an old-time Japanese street packed with gyoza (japanese dumpling) vendors. Completely authentic apart from the laminated menus and piped in music (^ ^). The gyoza was really good though, and I went back for some more. I tried some vegetable and some prawn – although I couldn’t decipher any others, so stuck with that. This floor holds the ghost town, but also Ice Cream World – which does have every flavour of ice cream you can imagine. There was some completely black ice cream, but I didn’t go so far as to try that, as nobody spoke english, and I couldn’t understand what it was. It might’ve been licorice – although just as well it could’ve been something entirely more hideous!

I did try some bean ice cream, some apple ice cream (which was very nice), some ice cream made with “deep sea water” (which was vanilla as far as I could tell”), and….and I’m not joking here…roast chicken wing ice cream! …and yes, it was foul!

…sorry (^ ^)

After this strange experience, I visited the area’s Animate shop which sells manga and anime, and picked up another really good art book. I’ve bought a bit too many manga and art books since I’ve been here, and I suspect my case will be a nightmare on the way back! Still, I got some issues of Bleach which I have the English versions too. Then I had a walk down Sunshine Dori, in the – yep – sunshine (^ ^)

Ikebukuro is the third biggest sub-center of Tokyo behind Shinjuku and Shibuya, although it’s got a bit of an un-cool reputation. It isn’t as wild as Shinjuku or Shibuya, but it seems a pleasant place. A little further from the center of Tokyo, it has a lot residential streets on the west side of the station, although it feels a bit vanilla. Sort of a cross between Ginza and Shinjuku, but not either of them. I wanted to go on the “chin chin densha” (ding ding tram), which winds it’s way around the residential areas, but I ran out of time really and I wanted to go to Nakano before it was too late in the evening.

Getting to Nakano about 7pm, I headed through Nakano broadway, which is a fantastic, long covered corridor of shops with small alleys leading off at regular intervals to small restaurants and fruit stalls etc. Of course the ubiquitous vending machines can be found down these long alleys too.

My real reason for going there was to go to Mandarake, as it’s apparently a big store there. I picked up a few more manga books I was after, and also bought a cast iron Japanese tea pot, some green tea and a cup from a great little shop. I managed to ask him how much things were, and understand what he was saying – along with asking for directions to Mandarake, I wasn’t doing too bad really.. It’s just as well, as really not many people speak English. Apparently, most have learned English, but only really at school and haven’t had much practice – so consequently they don’t really like to speak it in case they get it wrong or offend. Also, this is their country, so it’s only right that visitors make some kind of effort…in my opinion of course.

As it’s the weekend tomorrow, most places will be heaving. I’m going to visit Harajuku on Sunday again as I’d like to go back to the bridge, but I think I’ll leave Takashite Dori and Cat Street for during the week. I’m also planning to check out a maid cafe in Akihabara, but there is absolutely no chance you’ll get in at weekends without at least a couple of hours wait. Another thing for next week I think.

I’d like to check out Naka-meguro too, which I might do tomorrow. It’s an area south of Shibuya, and quite an up-and-coming place. It’s relatively cheap to rent there, and that’s attracted a lot of artists, musicians etc. There is even a street art gallery there, so I’m quite interested to see what it’s like.

Shinjuku, Hime Girls and Crossing Legs

Today I’ve been in Shinjuku. It’s a fantastic place, and just so stupidly rammed solid with people, it’s almost unreal. During the day it’s not so busy really, but at rush hours and the evening, it’s just packed solid. One of the places I wanted to visit in Shinjuku was a bookshop, just at one entrance. Managing to stumble through asking one of the shop assistants to direct me to the correct shelves, I found the haruki Murakami books in Japanese language. Of course, I can’t read them yet – but since being a fan of Haruki Murakami, I’ve always wanted to read his books in Japanese, so it’s maybe a good way to start learning Japanese writing; taking a small bit and trying to translate it. I might ask the tutor on the language course I’ve enrolled on to help me (^ ^)

From the book shop, I walked up to see Ni-chome, the gay and lesbian area, then back around through Kabuki-Cho, which is the hostess bar/red light area of Tokyo. Of course there are other areas, but this is the largest apparently. After then I walked over to the strangely juxtaposed west side of Shinjuku, into a city of high buildings, glass, chrome and corporations. It couldn’t be further from the east side of Shinjuku which is lower, seedier and much more interesting in my opinion. It’s just another reason that Tokyo is great – it’s just crazy (^ ^). I did go up the Tokyo Government Building tower though, as I’ve heard it’s a must do, as it’s one of the highest points in Tokyo. I walked out of the lift on the 30th floor or so, walked towards the window and was hit, almost physically, with the hugeness of Tokyo stretching out away from me. It’s truly awe-inspiring! I took a few photos, but they really don’t do it justice, and not helped from being shot through a window, and on a hazy day too.

People generally have an idea of fashion in Tokyo, but Harajuku gothloli girls come to mind to most when they think about it, certainly to me. There are a much larger group though: ‘Hime Girls’. “Hime” means princess in Japanese, and these girls are the immaculately dressed, pretty Japanese girls you see carrying Louis Vuitton handbags, and wearing gorgeous shoes. Tokyo really has an amazing fashion scene, and although lots of fashions are from Europe, the people in Tokyo really do set trends. Think the WAG look in the UK, popularised relatively recently… Well that’s just soooooo 1997 Hime girl!

There is a huge amount of consumption and spending in Tokyo, and you’ll see so many girls with bags from the more expensive shops in the city on the Tokyo Metro subway. There is one thing you’ll notice if you look though, and that’s not one of them is sitting crossing their legs. In the west, we consider it elegant to cross legs, but in Japan; crossing your legs shows great disrespect for the person you are with – so consequently people don’t seem to cross their legs. I think it’s quite cute though. For sure, if you’re doing business in Japan, you’d never cross your legs in the company of a prospective business partner – although business etiquette fills entire books, and often requires a language *and* body language translator for the unwary westerner.

In the same way, it’s considered rude to walk around with your hands in your pockets, whistling, leaning on something or even blowing your nose. It’s polite to show deference with a respectable stance or posture.

I’m just trying to keep that in mind when all I want to do is blow my nose and sit on the floor in the metro station….god, am I that uncouth? (^ ^)

Electronics Porn, Fat Westerners and Crossings…

Today I was heading for Shinjuku, but wanted to check out some of the manga shops and the Tokyo Anime Center in Akihabara. I ended up staying in Akihabara all day, leaving early this evening. It’s been great to see otaku, maid cafes, excellent manga shops, a myriad of electronics shops and the Bladerunner-style streets. The electronics shops sell pretty much everything there is to be bought in terms of computers, parts, cables and everything really. Imagine how amazing it would be for your local computer club to go to a place packed with electrical components, then have a drink or some food being served by a young maid, dressed in a victorian-style gothic lolita outfit, complete with knee socks. Yeah… I think they’d be happy (^ ^) If you stumbled into that area, you might think you’d accidently walked into a red light district, with pictures of girls everywhere dressed in cute outfits, advertising electronic components, ‘pimps’ outside the doors getting guys to come in and see what they have to offer, and shouting the latest deals, and tonnes of neon everywhere. This…..is the electronics red light area, and this is electronics porn. All the components displayed in explicit stripped-down pictures, and available to you, now for only a few thousand Yen! Although the girls are starting to change things with the advent of “butler cafes” where guys dressed up as butlers, serve the girls cream teas and cake.

As it’s another area that attracts tourists, there are a few of them about – including myself of course. It’s really striking though how large westerners are. I don’t mean in height though. Before I came, people were saying “oh, you’ll be the tallest person there”. I’m really not, and there are a lot of Japanese just as tall or taller than me. I don’t feel in any way freakishly tall. The amount of westerners though that are really big is pretty amazing. Apparently Japanese are starting to get larger, but I think it’d be a huge shame if they did start on with the obesity problems that most of Europe and the US seems to have now.

One thing I have noticed about Japanese crossings, is that people follow the green man, especially on busy roads. In London, you’d see people crossing between cars etc, but not really here. Some of the more modern crossings have a count-down on them to tell you when the lights are about to change, so you’ll know how long you have to stand there before it goes from red to green, which is pretty cool. The reason, I understand, is that there is a bit of an urban myth, that if you cross on red; then you’re responsible for the death of the person behind you, who steps out to follow you thinking you’re going on green. Lots of people walk around sending email on their phones, and so might just walk when they see someone else walking.

Oh, and I found out what makes that cricket-type noise too! They’re *mahhhooooooosive* big cicadas, called “semi” [link to a pic], that look a bit like cockroaches! I saw one on the pavement outside when I went to get supper…

Tomorrow, I’m *definitely* going to Shinjuku (^_-)-*

What does Tokyo really look like?

I guess there is the movie views of Tokyo that either have it as some kind of post-apocalyptic wasteland, a high-tech modern place, a warren of small streets with electricity cables hanging between buildings and neon signs flashing at night. The truth is that it’s all of these. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I arrived, but I did have some pre-conceptions as it’s hard to not have – given I watch a lot of Japanese anime and films. Tokyo hosted the Olympic Games in 1964, and I suspect there’d been a lot of development for that. Consequently, a lot of the buildings around certain places in the city are very 1960’s. Akihabara for example is a real Bladerunner city, and a lot of it is quite dilapidated, such as you’d find in that kind of film, with old guys playing Pachinko and sitting around in small food places. I walked into the big electronics shop near Akihabara station, and a wall of noise and excitement hit me. This place was packed solid with people, electronics and promo staff, talking over PA systems to attract customers to their new products. One thing that is really impressive is the mobile networks here. Our mobile networks look like baked bean tins connected with string by comparison. Live, high-quality TV streaming, i-mode email and Internet – all on really nicely designed, thin handsets with bright, large and clear screens. Why ever can our mobile phone companies not just sort it all out once and for all. Stop messing around with crappy “mobile Internet”. Anyway…I digress….

Last night I was watching Satoshi Kon’s Paranoia Agent which I’d brought with me, and it struck me that this depiction of Tokyo is really true. Of course they’d know what Tokyo is actually like, but before I’d arrived here, I had no idea. The sounds of Tokyo are one thing that I’d not experienced vicariously. In areas with greenery (of which there are a lot dotted around the city) there is an almost incessant scream of insects…some kind of cricket or something I guess. The first night I also heard a solitary bird call echoing around the buildings as if it were a remote forest somewhere, as the area I’m staying is super-quiet in the evening. There are a good number of raven-type birds around, and these call during the day and night, although I’ve heard them at night more. In Paranoia Agent, there are these same birds and insects making these noises. It makes it a whole lot more real.

After yesterday’s long walk from Minato-ku, via Roppongi to Harajuku, I’m taking it easier today, and heading off to Shinjuku for the afternoon and evening.

Harajuku & Akhihabara

Today I walked from Minato-ku, past Roppongi and to Harajuku. The entire walk took me a few hours, and it was so unbelievably hot, I think I must’ve lost a stone during it. Afterwards I went to Akihabara, which is the Bladerunner Town/Electronics City of Tokyo. It really does look like the set from Bladerunner, and must do more at night.

Harajuku was really strange. I’ve seen so many pictures of Harajuku bridge, and Takeshite Dori – that it was really weird seeing it in real life. It was like somebody made a set of a film, and I stumbled onto it. Was really cool to see it though, and Takeshite Dori is just how I imagined; crammed, noisy and filled with loads of scene clothes. There weren’t many people around on the bridge apart from photographers.

It seemed a bit of a shame that there were so many people taking photographs, and it had to be said that there were a lot of old guys with zoom lenses taking pictures of the young girls in gothloli outfits. Now I’m not one to cast aspersions or anything, but I wonder if their wives approve… (^_-)-*

Today I also headed to Shibuya to visit the madcap shop ranKing ranQueen. It’s a strange, small shop that has collections of the most popular things at the moment. Japanese love to make lists of popular things; CD’s, manga, makeup, diet products etc, calling them “rankings” – hence the name. In there you’ll find mouth stretchers and other strange items. Most make no sense if you can’t read Japanese, but it’d be fun to buy some of them anyway, just to see – although you may well still be in the dark.

I’m so tired tonight, and I really can’t think of what to write – I was up at 5am..I guess because of the time differences from here and the UK. I do think I’ve got off very lightly with jet lag though, as I was just a bit tired yesterday, but slept fine during the night.

Tomorrow I’m planning to go to have a look at some places in Ginza, Minato-ku, Shinjuku and a bunch of other areas. One thing though…. I’m getting the subway!

Arrival

Yesterday at about 11:00am local time, I arrived at my temporary home for my stay in Tokyo. In a daze through lack of sleep, I checked in and went to bed for a couple of hours. The flight over was ok really, although just hideously long. I watched about 6 films during the flight, none of which were worth watching really (^_-)-*. On the journey from Narita airport, I had the chance to see a bit of the outskirts of Tokyo, and it’s just so green. When the plane was landing, it seemed to look just like any country, but the closer we got, the more that the differences became apparent. From the plane I saw a Japanese pagoda type building, and I can’t describe the excitement I felt. ‘This is Japan’!. Customs on the way through was fine, just the same as everywhere. I was surprised at how small Narita airport was though. It’s about 28 degrees here during the day, and feels really warm. It’s not like a dry heat in Greece or somewhere, but a very humid, wet heat. As people that know me know; I like being warm, and it’s lovely here.

After having a couple of hours sleep, I got up and had a wander around the area I’m in; Minato-Ku. Since arriving, I’ve not been able to stop smiling, as it’s just amazing. The streets around the hotel are not very wide, but clean as any I’ve seen anywhere, and modern buildings overlook the pavements with the odd tree. Power cables hang everywhere, laden with jumbles of cables heading off in every direction. Near the hotel, there is a small mini-market, so I went in and bought some food for my supper, along with a beer, some water and tea. It struck me that one of the differences I’ve noticed already is the complexity of Tokyo. Japan is famous for simple things, expertly done. It seems that Tokyo is a hugely complex place, but in fact if you look at it, then it’s just an aggregation of simple things, done well, and put together.

Also, I was surprised at the price of cigarettes. I bought some duty free cigarettes for about £2 a pack to keep me going, but in fact vending machines sell cigarettes for about ¥300, which is about £1.30. I bought a few packs, and tried them – my favorite being Mild Seven Super Lights. They’re the same content as Marlboro Lights, although sport a rathr cool charcoal filter. I like them very much..

For a long time I’ve felt a bit like I’m just going through the motions, but when I woke up this morning – at about 5am – I felt truly excited and happy

Today I’m going to walk to Harajuku, then I’m heading for Akihabara. My loose plan for the first few days is to jet around everywhere, then spend more time in places I like later on during my trip. I’ve just had my breakfast; a wonderfully eccentric meal with a self-service area offering: bacon, scrambled egg, hot dogs, broccoli, pasta, fruit etc.