Tokyo

I began my exploration of Tokyo in Asakusa, a neighborhood once known as the entertainment center of the city. Everything I’ve read about traveling in Tokyo recommends that visitors head to Asukusa, but apparently that’s must what everyone must read about the city – the place was packed with tourists. Still, the atmosphere was fun for what it was, an excited, bustling hoard of people tempted at every turn by kiosks hawking kimonos, fake karate suits, and all varieties of kitchy Japanese memorabilia. The food offerings were just as colorful – Japanese noodles, tiny skewered octopuses, and balls of ice cream that had been breaded and fried.

Before leaving Salt Lake I looked up Tokyo on Google Maps. The grounds of the Imperial Palace sit directly in the center of the city and take up hundreds of acres of land in a city with some of the most expensive real estate in the world. Determined to find the ‘real’ Tokyo, I hopped back on the subway and headed to the the palace. Maybe I’m ignorant, but I had no idea that Japan actually still has an emperor. I assumed that the palace would be a historical site open to visitors, much like the residences of ancient shoguns in Kyoto, but when I approached the grounds, it was obvious that the entire area was heavily guarded. A sign informed me that the palace itself is only open to the public for the emperor’s birthday. As a consolation, I found that the Imperial Palace Gardens are very much open to the public and, while not as ornate or intimate as the gardens in Kyoto, are very well cared for and still impressive. Even though the palace itself was off limits, I still got a feel for what all the land is used for. To me the Imperial Palace Gardens felt like a giant Japanese Central Park. Local city-dwellers lounged on the grass and a few kids tossed around a Frisbee in the sun. Apparently the gardens also have historical value. Several signs informed visitors about significant events that took place in the area. One such sign read as follows: “Every Japanese knows that this corridor was the locus of the unfortunate event when Lord Asano Kakumino-kami Naganori attacked and wounded Lord Kina Kozuke-no-Suke Yoshinaka in 1701.”

Not far from the palace is the neighborhood of Ginza; Tokyo’s high-end shopping district analogous to Fifth Avenue in New York City. A short walk took me to a busy intersection in the middle of Ginza where I stopped in the Sony Building for a visit. My guide book recommended the Sony Building as a place to check out the newest high-tech offerings of the electronics giant. I’ve always heard so much about the cutting-edge technology available in Japan, so I was interested to have a look for myself. The Sony Building felt like a bigger, more high-end Apple Store. While their music players weren’t quite as impressive as the iPod, they had a handful of other products that caught my attention. A lot of younger people like to head up to the sixth floor where the latest virtual reality technology is available for free public use, but I got stuck on my way up in the camera section. It took only one snapshot with Sony’s new a900 camera to convince myself that my old Canon is due for a replacement. I would loved to have bought the a900 on the spot, but at $3500 for just the body with no lenses, it was a bit out of my price range. Soon enough I’ll get a camera that can take legitimately professional pictures, but until then I’ll have to stretch the abilities of my cheap Canon to fit the job.

Another ride on one of Tokyo’s innumerable subway lines took me to Meiji Shrine, situated in huge expanse of thick forest on the opposite side of the city as the Palace Grounds. I walked for about twenty minutes through the forest to the shrine and took a moment there to rest up and watch local Japanese worship. I’ve seen so many different Buddhist and Hindu shrines in Asia I’ve become something of a ‘shrine-snob’; it takes something pretty wild and out-of-the-ordinary to grab my attention. Still, every shrine is a little bit different. It was interesting to see successful Tokyo businessmen worshiping as a contrast to less affluent worshipers in developing Asian countries, which is most of what I’ve seen so far.

The real highlight of the day for me was visiting the ‘Tokyo City View’, an attraction allowing visitors to enjoy sweeping panoramic views of the city. A skyscraper in Tokyo’s ‘Roppongi Hills’ development features giant floor-to-ceiling windows on its 55th floor from which the city can be seen. For a small fee the public can even have access to the roof of the building. The roof had amazing views. The obvious monument of the city is the Tokyo Tower, a giant metal structure painted red and patterned after the Eiffel Tower in Paris. I circled the roof several times and took picture after picture of the Tokyo skyline and the city below. Getting a view of a city from above is something that always helps me to get a feel for the different neighborhoods and the layout of the area, and at the very least I want to leave Tokyo having learned that much about it.

My ticket to the Tokyo City View included entrance to the ‘Mori Art Gallery’, a collection of pieces on the 56th floor of the same building. To call the works in Mori Art Gallery ‘modern art’ would be an understatement. I don’t know exactly how to describe the stuff that’s in there, but the terms ‘extreme art’ or ‘interactive art’ comes to mind. A statement by the director of the art gallery displayed at the entrance summed it up well: “The aim of this exhibition is to expose multiple layers of reality to the viewer by providing an opportunity to experience the relationship between oneself and the object of each exhibit through works that function as experimental sensory devices much like viewing the world through a kaleidoscope.” Every exhibit was fascinating, but my favorites included a structure made of several giant aluminum rings with light bulbs illuminating in patterns that created an optical illusion, a giant cinder block wall with a hole and pieces suspended from the ceiling to create the impression that a cannon ball had just burst through it, and an exhibit called ‘Telefunken’ – four plasma screens with static and noise repeating in artistic patterns.

For dinner I stopped into a cosmopolitan restaurant in the Roppongi Hills development called ‘Xen’. Techno music blasted through the dining room as I walked through, and thin translucent columns resembling bamboo illuminated with colorful neon lights. As I ate pork brochette and a variety of sushi, a young Japanese couple at the table next to me struck up a conversation. Their names were Michiya and Mina, and Michiya asked about my travels in Japan. We talked for a few minutes of traveling and it turns out that Michiya taught as a diving instructor on Ko Tao, Thailand, where I got my diving certification in 2006. Michiya also has traveled in the United States and mentioned that he had a great time despite the painfully slow trains (apparently a 60 MPH Amtrak doesn’t quite match up to a 150 MPH shinkansen).

After dinner Michiya invited me to get drinks and sushi with he and Mina. We walked through the lively Roppongi district to a tasteful place called ‘Tip Top’. Michiya and Mina ordered a couple drinks and I had an orange juice, and we all toasted and yelled ‘kampai’ (cheers). It’s such a great opportunity to meet foreign people in their home countries. I loved chatting with Michiya and Mina about Japanese culture and I loved experiencing Tokyo’s nightlife with local kids my age. Michiya told me that most Japanese eat a dish called ‘natto’ for breakfast, and Mina ran to a nearby convenience store to buy some. They encouraged me to try it, but when they opened the package it literally smelled like a pair of filthy rotting gym socks. Apparently the stuff is made of fermented soybeans, and Michiya and Mina got a kick out of seeing me try it. I swallowed a tiny morsel and nearly vomited, then Michiya happily slurped down the rest after I was through. I really do love Japanese food, but natto is something I only need to try once in my lifetime.

After drinks we headed to a cheap sushi bar in Roppongi and finished off the night with some excellent raw tuna and miso soup. I’m so impressed with Japanese people. There have been several times during the past few days when I’ve asked a local for directions and they immediately drop everything they’re doing and actually walk with me to be sure I find what I’m looking for. After Michiya and Mina shared their food at Xen with me and paid for my orange juice I insisted on paying at the sushi bar, but they insisted that I not pay. Every Japanese person I’ve met has been perfectly friendly and perfectly respectful. On top of that, the country is incredibly well-run and well-organized. Tokyo, for example, is cleaner and quieter than any city I’ve been to in the US. Seeing a culture like this is so impressive that it inspires me to want to be more like the Japanese. It’s easy in the US to justify being unfriendly at times or showing a lack of respect, but if nothing else I at least want to remember how I was treated in Japan and use that as motivation to show the same treatment to others everywhere I go.