Tokyo, Japan

I have finally sorted through my shots from Tokyo and have managed to get a few processed and uploaded. They're not what I had expected or wanted to come back with, but they're what I've got.


Since getting back a lot of people have asked me "So how was it?" And my standard response was "It's grey. And concrete." This is the truth, and it was one of the first things I noticed about Tokyo. In a way it was very disappointing because great photos come out of Japan to be displayed in tour guides all over the world, and they depict it as a crazy Asian version of New York: bright neon signs, happy faces, highlighted hair, whizzing taillights. Sure the lights are bright but the smog in the air mutes the glow. Everyone is dressed to the nines and looks like they stepped out of a catalog of business attire fashion. The taillights are almost exclusively taxicabs because - pshaw! - only the insanely rich would drive their own car in Tokyo. I wanted to find the stuff about Japan that was not written about and not plunked down in a Top Ten list somewhere about technology breakthroughs or weird cultural laws. Going to Japan, what did I know about Japan?

1. They're the second (or close?) most expensive city on the planet
2. The salarymen are robots
3. Squat toilets
4. The old mixes right next to the new
5. Tokyo fashion is a name unto itself

That's about it. So we went, sat on a plane next to some cheerful dude headed to Manila for his birthday and collectively developed sore rumps. Our flight attendant was loud and obnoxious and reminded me of Camryn Manheim's character in Romy & Michelle's HS Reunion (ugh, sorry). I was optimistic and spend the hours unable to sleep paging through the guidebooks and phrase books.


When you travel overseas you always forget what it's like at the other end when you hit customs or immigration or whatever they call it. I blame jet lag. I have a bunch of stamps in my passport but I don't recall a single incident of acquiring any of them - which is quite a shame, really. Since I first got my passport as a child I always wanted to be one of those people who had the back portion filled with stamps from all kinds of exotic places. I haven't quite failed, per se, but I'm far from that goal. Waiting in line with a bunch of rumpled, sleepy travelers (who you'd think you'd get to know better after sitting for 12 hours in a confined space) I looked at them and was unable to recall those moments from the last ten years. Come January I'm due a brand new passport but at least I'm not sentimental about losing something I can't even remember.

Thankfully there were Americans waiting for us on arrival. Derin and his immediate family were there at Narita to greet us and lead us to our hotel and sushi. So started a crazy week that was full of the unexpected. In many ways they are absolutely correct about Japan being a country of juxtaposition, although it was not in the ways that I had previously expected. The people are both forbidding and friendly, I was supersaturated and bored, the weather blew hot and cold. Moreover, I could never decide if the culture was as timely and scheduled as the rail system or laid back and free-flowing as the artists in Harajuku. We experienced all of the above and more, and even now, weeks later, I cannot make up my mind about the people of Tokyo. Did I enjoy myself? I think so. I was pushing myself very hard to get the bollocks to attempt street photography and I think that I have to just bow out and admit that it's not something I will ever truly enjoy. Spending my days hunting for people and expressions caused many other opportunities to slip by. But that's all in the Tokyo experience, I guess! Things do move too fast (particularly during the work week) and if you blink you'll miss it. We fed off each other, the rush hour frenzy and my anxiety. In a sick, strange way maybe it was meant to be.


The city is as quiet as any American suburb. Each night I was astounded at how silent the people are despite their cramped quarters and heavy concentration. It's like the city is holding its breath for some great moment or a big secret. It was this that made me sure that I was not in some kind of warped New York - because it's too! darned! quiet! If it looks like a duck it must sound like a duck, right? Even the loudest, drunkest businessman yelling jovially to his friends made a very small noise in the big space that was the city. I cannot understand what rabbit hole I fell into but I could not make heads or tails of how or why basic physics suddenly seemed so different.

Shopping is taken to another level in Tokyo. I have been to New York, London, Paris and LA and only city that I have ever visited that made my wallet hurt was Tokyo. Upscale, brand-name boutiques in Ginza notwithstanding, you can find anything from rooms for 2-hour "rest" periods to whisky bars to boot stores to high fashion, even the world's best cream puffs. All from under the comfort of your favorite metro train overpass - artificial thunder in a climate that is too metropolitan to support natural weather patterns. Being the hub of businessmen and women, train station shopping centers are bigger than malls at home (and I'm from Jersey) and cater to people who must shop on the run. A whole microcosm economy has sprouted to support the salarymen who live for their daily commute: vending machine meals, complete with alcoholic beverages and served counterside once your turn in your ticket. It's never longer than a 30-second wait and the cheery optimism of your "server" is dished right alongside your food, whether you want it or not! I discovered that it's generally not wanted - at least callously ignored. Most of these places are standing room only.

• Tokyo made me feel small in its size and complexity, a tiny ant crawling on a pavement as big as the universe
  
• ... but it made me feel huge alongside the slender, perfect women who are so beautiful, stylish and petite
  
  
• The people made me feel welcome when the most haughty-looking teenager gave me a bow and an "Arigato gozaimas!" when I relinquished my seat on the train for her shopping bags
  
• ... and yet I felt like a nobody when crowds of suit-clad businessmen plowed through me on the street corner
  
  
• I loved the culture for their politeness and decorum
  
• ... but resented their unspoken rules for my confusion on how to behave in public

Conclusions? I have no conclusions. If Tokyo were closer I might consider going back, but I have never traveled so far from home and it is not something even I could do without careful consideration. Already my memories are fading and for once I didn't take as many photos as I would have liked. Part of me wonders if I really did refrain from ordering natto just so I could have the excuse of "Well, I didn't get natto the last time, so...."