Landing on Planet Tokyo
Despite Tokyo being only four days of our World Tour, it gets it’s own blog because I still cannot wrap my head around it. Having spent less than two weeks of my life in the country of Japan, it would be arrogant to assume that I could understand one of the most complex and intricate societies of the last few thousand years. Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto.
[Author’s note: my mom just passed away. Clearly that’s more important than any travel-related blog, but I’m going to publish all the ones from my trip over the next couple of weeks, and then once I have some time to write thoughtfully about Mom, I will.]
The contrasts of modern Japan are hard to reconcile at times. Zen gardens that reflect the attention to detail, beauty and tranquility, juxtaposed with the fetishization of teenage girls and anatomically developed anime characters that flood the mainstream of Japan. To a visitor, Japanese culture can appear more obsessed with physical appearance than any other. Then you return to your own country and see how many ads are for cosmetics and clothes and everything focused on your appearance. Maybe the Japanese are just more honest about it?
Akihabra, the “tech district”, has elements of Vegas with the lights, Pachinko parlours, and billboards with well bosomed anime characters every which way you look. Young girls (or not so young girls) in school girl or anime outfits invite you to a restaurant where identically clad girls will serve you lunch (though we cannot vouch for this since we didn’t accept any invites). I would have at least applauded if a bunch of boys were out in similar garb.
Our first night, we ate at a local sushi restaurant and were surprised that aside from the two old men at the bar, everyone else were foreigners (and all white). This was a sushi restaurant that had been in business for 90 years, was currently run by the grandson (in his 50s), with his 83 year old mother still working alongside him. There is still tradition if you look in the right places, but Japan is not immune to modernisation or progression of the social construct, or the temptation of tourist dollars to bolster the economy.
While I am no fan of religions, the Japanese Shinto tradition, similar to the animism of Native Americans, doesn’t come with the monotheistic dogma that plagues our planet today. While I shake my head at the traditions and superstitions, at least they didn’t see their natural environment as something for them to exploit, but rather to protect. And when Buddhism arrived, they found a way to co-exist, not just within the country but often within the same location — a Buddhist temple inside of a Shinto shrine is not uncommon. Well done, Japan, you are awarded one BJR point. Though the emporer in WWII used their religious beliefs to enfranchise his power and justify atrocities. Minus one BJR point, Japan.
Getting Around and Getting Fed
Kim confirmed that traveling in Japan is much easier than in years before. To prepare for the Olympics, street signs, trains, and restaurants all shifted to signs providing both kanji and English. With the help of Google Maps and Google Translate, we could actually find something, and actually arrive there. When I first visited in 1998, I was paralyzed by their public transport system. This time, we roamed freely.
The Tokyo Metro is exceptional: clean, well marked (even in English), and efficient. Their payment methods are still a step behind the Google/Apple Pay that Sydney enjoys, but once you have a payment card or an iPhone with the right app, it’s straightforward.
Tokyo was definitely the hardest place to be vegetarian, given that fish is ubiquitous in restaurants, and tofu more of a rarity than I’d expected. The quality of the food is great, though of course you could choose to poison yourself with a number of fast food options.
Kimberly-San
The primary purpose of our trip to Tokyo was for Kim to show me where she had lived for almost two years before immigrating to Australia. Over those days, I came to realise that Kim’s time there was much like my first two years in Austin, where she traveled 75% of the time and work dominated her life, so her time in Japan was wonderful but had only really just begun when she left for Australia.
Kim picked out an awesome hotel, the Toe Library, in a residential area called Asukasa. The rooms were more like Japanese apartments: tiny, well organised, and beautifully and modestly outfitted. It’s like a building of tiny homes stacked on each other, everything in it’s place.
Where will Japan go next?
It will be fascinating to watch Japan over the coming decades, as it’s policies of closed borders and non-immigration are unique, though not as severe as their 250 years of isolation starting in the 17th century.
Tokyo showed me things that felt alien and foreign, that I soon realised existed in the West, just packaged in a different way. Once again, Japan taught me more about myself than itself. One more BJR point awarded to Japan.
