The Vertical City

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Been to New York City?  Los Angeles?  I hope so, because using them is the only way in which I can properly describe my first impression of Tokyo.   Picture the height and density of NYC.  Remember the subways, crowds, and backalleys?  Well, Tokyo can be much like that...but with the breadth of LA.  I emphasize 'first impression' because I spent enough time in this fabulous city to realize it practically functions as its own country.  There are many different neighborhoods, each with their own flavor of uniqueness for residents and visitors alike.

I arrived at Narita Airport on a flight from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and it is safe to say that I have never felt such culture shock.  The world of dirt roads, poor families, and sunshine had changed into an exceptionally clean, rich, and polite culture awaiting spring's warmth.  I changed no hemisphere nor continent, but I may as well have landed on another planet.  The bathroom at Narita was completely automated from lights to toilet to door.  The bus ride into the city was equal to five three-meal days in Cambodia.  I was unprepared for this sudden change, but I am glad for it.  It reminded me how different people can live when I had just finished thinking how similar we all can be.  I look forward to my next third-world to first-world transition.

I conquered Tokyo in two stints.  Each time I was graced with a great tour guide and friend.  My first four days I spent with Corey and Amilia, two friends from home and the first I have seen on my travels.  Corey had been to the city over a dozen times before so he took Amilia and I to several places he thought we'd enjoy as well as a few he had yet to see, such as the Imperial Palace Garden.  We visited the fashion-trendy street of Takeshita-dori to gawk at new styles and the people who chose to wear them.  We walked through the Yakuza-run male-entertainment area of Kabuki-cho to play billiards.  And we even paid homage to a more modern shrine and the reason we were all staying in such a nice hotel, the Apple Store on the Fifth Avenue-esque street in the Ginza district.  Thanks to Corey, I slept above the city skyline, exercised with gym facilities, and ate generously at the hotel's breakfast buffet.  Not only did I have the pleasure of keeping company with friends from home, but for a few days I had some of the luxuries of home as well.

I left Tokyo four days after arriving to join Amilia and her cousins in Kyoto while Corey worked.  After only a taste test in Kansai and a brief stint in Hakone, which I will expand upon in a later posting, I returned to Tokyo for round two, this time with some local friends whom I had met in Thailand: Liz and Keiko.  True to their word, these two introduced me to other friends of theirs who helped show me the city and provide personal accommodation and opinions on the culture.

I traveled back and forth through time balancing the modern Tokyo with the ancient city of Edo, what Tokyo was once called.  I returned to Ginza to tour the Sony building and play with its many computers, cameras, and other gadgets that have yet to be released in the US.  I strolled the Shibuya district and braved the 'Shibuya Scramble', the most massive pedestrian intersection in Tokyo.  I saw many tall buildings and crammed into many crowds, but the highlight of modern Tokyo was the Tsukiji Fish Market.

Picture Costco.  Now double it.  Once more more.  That is a fraction of this market's size.  It processes a huge percentage, I've heard as much as 60%, of the world's fresh fish everyday.  No matter how much it is, the early morning chaos is well worth getting out from under the warm covers.  It opens at 3am for wholesale buyers and welcomes the general public between 5 and 6.  There are no signs and no guides to help one through this maze of fresh fish and bloody cobblestone  paths.  Luckily, there are also few restrictions and even fewer people who notice or care that visitors are there.  It is a prime-time, speed-of-light market with one focus: process as much fish as quickly as possible. 

To honor and experience the more classical times of the Edo period, I visited the three finest shrines and temples in the city: Sensoji, Yasukuni-jinja, and Meiji-jinja.  Sensoji is rumored to house an enormous and gorgeous statue of Kannon, the goddess of mercy, behind its two massive gates and next to a five-storied pagoda.  Yasukuni is the city's most controversial shrine because it is dedicated to all war-dead, some 2.5 million, of Japan.  Meiji's large wooden toriis set deep within Yoyoji Park was by far the most peaceful and calming.

In addition to these temples I also partook in two time-honored activities: kabuki theatre and a tea ceremony.  Kabuki is akin to Italian opera, I imagine, if one does not speak Italian.  The costumes, acting, and story can still be appreciated, but not as fully as if there were no language barrier.  The tea ceremony might have been my overall favorite Tokyo activity.  For 30 minutes, I was treated to the same art, grace, and marvelous matcha tea that aristocracy, warriors, and royalty had experienced for over 500 years.  Everything from the utensils and room to the food and the clothing are meant to create natural harmony.  Host and guest try to cooperate and find equilibrium together instead of finding fault or acting selfishly.  Its goal is to train mental composure as well as elegant manners and etiquette.  I wish I had more than the one picture to show, but I just couldn't bring myself to ruin the ambience anymore than I might have.

My last blog-worthy Tokyo event didn't actually take place in Tokyo.  I took a day trip to nearby Nikko, a city whose temples and shrines are matched in quality by Kyoto's.  What set Nikko apart for me was its natural setting and how it was incorporated into the buildings.  The small town sits high in the mountains surrounded by cryptomeria, what we know as cypress.  Some trees were cleared for temple grounds, but many were strategically left add to their overall magnificence.  They have become shrines themselves complete with protective fencing and offerings of incense and money.  I visited the three world heritage areas of Rinno-ji, Tosho-gu, and Futarasan-jinja.  Each is more than a thousand years old but looks like it couldn't be more than a hundred.  Tosho-gu is by far the largest and most famous, with well-known icons like the Sleeping Cat and the Three Wise Monkeys (see/speak/hear no evil), but the two other temples/shrines offer more solitude with the same grandeur on a smaller scale.  And with only a two-hour ride from Tokyo, this makes and easily and fulfilling trip from any Tokyo itinerary.

I've not spent more time in any large city as I have here in Tokyo.  I saw several of its countless districts and sampled old and new tastes.  I'm sure a lifetime would not be sufficient to find them all, but I can safely state that it is the first foreign metropolis in which I could picture myself living and working for an extended period of time.