We head back in a few hours. Our last day in the throngs of Tokyo’s humanity has gone by. I’m not sure where I first read this description of Tokyo but I can’t think of a city I’ve visited more deserving of it. Once you’ve seen the scramble crossing - a pedestrian crossing for all directions simultaneously, including diagonals (japanese “sukuranburu kousaten”) - of Shibuya, neither Beijing, London, or New York appears as densely populated.
We’ll go back to Tokyo. For me, it’s the first labyrinth I’ve visited where, after more than 6 days there, I still can’t always tell North from South coming out of the subway. There are so many nooks and crannies to surprise us. Yesterday was our shopping day. Between the web and our guide books we jumped back and forth through the city: Asakusa, Ginza, Roppongi, Shibuya, Shinjuku, etc. One of the store we visited has a small entrance you could walk by 500 times without noticing it. Its stairs go down 4 floors before you reach a cavernous room.
To be fair, our shopping wasn’t all that successful. For clothing, the Japanese physique is simply too different from ours. They don’t sell getas in 12 1/2. Moreover, nowadays most books, music, or electronics found here are available in North-America. Whatever isn’t, I’m probably not informed enough to buy here. Finally, neither of us likes tourist souvenirs. In Kyoto it was easy to find traditional hand made goods. Here it wasn’t. Instead I would have left with a modern painting. There are plenty of art galleries.
Some questions still need to be answered about our trip:
Q. What have you done besides eating?
A. A lot. As the pictures show, we did all the touristy things recommended by our books and more in each town.
Q. Should one write postcards on a train ride?
A. No. As you will all agree when you receive the cards, the jerky motions of the trains transformed my already awful handwriting into the scribbles of an uncoordinated monkey. Solace was only to be found on the Shinkansen Hikari Railstar.
Q. S and I each bought a new carry-on before leaving. It is the easiest way to travel by train around Japan. She bought a Tumi on eBay. I bought a Samsonite at a clearance store. So… which faired best, Tumi or Samsonite?
A. Tumi. While the Samsonite has more cubic space for its surface area as well as a nifty “laundry” section, it suffers from a number of very annoying problem. The biggest being that it doesn’t balance weight easily. When fully loaded, it becomes unstable. If left alone standing, the carry-on would tip forward. It would also roll over sideways if one of it’s wheels hit a bump at angle (e.g. a paved sidewalk). Finally, after a month of travel the retractable handle is not sliding in and out as easily as it once did.
Q. Which guide books were you using?
A. To explore Japan we used Fodor’s Japan and Fodor’s Exploring Japan. After a day in Tokyo, I bought The Rough Guide to Tokyo at Kinokuniya, we already had The Rough Guide to Beijing.
Q. Fodor’s or Rough Guide?
A. In general I like the Rough Guides a lot more. I really enjoy their wit and pragmatism. Fodor has a very neutral tone which often tells you little more than the basics. Some of the information in the Rough Guide could have been better although the internet was a great backup.
A sad note as we depart. On the way back to our hotel last night we walked the west exit of Shinjuku station. This is where many of Tokyo’s homeless take shelter until morning. We’ve seen little poverty here. Unlike Beijing, there are almost no hecklers or beggars throughout Japan. During the day, this corridor links the financial side of Shinjuku as well as the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building with the gigantic transport hub and the commercial part of the district. At night, as the foot traffic dies down, about 200 people move into the alcoves. They build their own private areas with cardboard boxes and shield their eyes from the electric lights with clothing or towels. Neither side, passers-by or unofficial tenants, looks at the other. If you did though, you’d notice that they, mostly men, are all well shaved and well dressed, often dress pants and shirts. Were it not for the situation, you might mistake them for blue collar workers. Since we were both curious, I went looking for some information last night. Here’s a good article on the topic.
