Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Tokyo

The first destination on my month long trip was Tokyo for a fleeting visit. With this being my first big trip overseas the words of Charles Dudley Warner rang true as prepared to leave. “There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it.”

My whirlwind tour of Japan left me with a spinning head and longing to stay longer to see more of a spectacular place. Oh well maybe another time.
After leaving Sydney at 3:15pm on Sunday the 23rd I arrived into Tokyo at 7:30am Monday the 24th and boarded a flight bound for Geneva on Wednesday 26th taking off at 3:45am. The excitement of Tokyo fuelled me in absence of sleep. Nine hours of precious sleep for the Tokyo experience just isn’t enough for a guy like me!
I was lucky to have exit row seats on both the flights over with a stretch on the legs for 2 hours to break up the flight. For my maiden long distance trip, I was happy for the room to stretch and a 2 hour Singapore stop-over to break it up. The one hour time zone difference also helped alleviate any extra fatigue. The wet rainy day Tokyo greeted me with didn’t help my languid mood and a few minutes of glorious head rolling, mouth wide open sleep on the hour and half bus ride from the airport to the hotel was inevitable. I arrived at my hotel in Shibuya at 11:00am - almost exactly 24 hour after leaving my house in Sydney. I checked in early – for a small extra sum – and headed up to the room on the 12th floor to get some shut eye.
I negotiated my way through what seemed like a small-sized door to my room, dropped my bags on the floor and opened the curtains to see what kind of view I had. Surprised? You bet! My view looked directly over the famous Shibuya pedestrian crossing.

For a young fella like me who grew up in the quiet Australian bush, the sheer volume of people crossing the road at one time was astonishing. I sat and watched in awe and felt like a spectator on high watching some kind of medieval battle. Each time the lights turned green to cross the people moved forward as if to meet each other near the centre of the crossing, but instead of crashing upon each other in attack they would by-pass each other moving off to carry on whatever business led them to cross at this particular point. Well it was either like a battle scene or people converging on the bargain bin at the half-yearly sales!!
After a few pictures and watching the spectacular scenes below the need for sleep was becoming over whelming. I had a quick shower to rid myself of the stale recycled plane air smell and to rehydrate myself then lay down for a sleep at 12pm. I set the alarm for an hour and was pretty soon sound asleep.
I woke before the alarm a little bit dazed and confused. It took me a few seconds to gather my thoughts to work out where I was. I got up and turned the computer on the check a few things and update my facebook, then started getting ready to head out to the football. My friend Tanioka was meeting me in just over an hour to take me to the internationally friendly match between Japan and South Korea at Saitama Stadium. It was still raining and misty outside so I prepared myself for a wet evening. I met Tanioka in the foyer at 2pm and we walked a few blocks to pick up his car. We left 5 and half hours before kick-off to ensure we didn’t get stuck in traffic if there was an incident on the road. I had thought the time allowed seemed a little excessive but it all became very clear why it was factored in. The sea of humanity moving in all different directions by foot, bicycle, car, truck, bus and every other style of commuting was staggering.
The trip was slow but the spectacle of mass humanity and as we passed through technologically mind-boggling and precision planned streets, helped pass the time quickly. I felt like a small child with my face pressed against the window trying to drink in all the excitement, colour and vibe of this magnificent city. We cleared the city centre and headed out on the arterial motorway towards the ground. We arrived at the ground about 3:15pm. It was still raining and looked like we may be in for a wet evening but the weather wasn’t going to dampen the mood of the hundreds of fans who had also arrived early. We were advised we had to wait over an hour before we were able to go in the ground so we went in search of food. There were a couple of fast food vans set-up outside the ground and after deciding on a hotdog and coffee I felt really bad when I realised I didn’t have any yen on me!! My good friend Tanioka was more than happy to extend his hosting duties into feeding the cashless hungry traveller and soon my mini (well it looked mini to me but they only had one size) hotdog had been inhaled. I hadn’t eaten since the flight breakfast at around 6:30am that morning so the little hot dog barely touched the sides! I have ample room in my rather large stomach I imagined the hotdog like a cork bobbing in the ocean that was my tummy. I could have destroyed about 10 but as I had no money I didn’t want to be rude and borrow more money to be a fat satisfied wombat. I sipped my bitter milky coffee and added more sugar. I had been told food wasn’t going to be an option inside the ground so I drank the coffee slowly and imagined eating a burger. It didn’t help ease my hunger much more than the hotdog, but it made me remember the things I love in life. Especially burgers!
The excitement built steadily and the noise started to swell as the stadium started to fill. There was one bay designated for the South Korean fans with every seat filled by a red clad supporter who each aspired to make more noise than the 50 to 1 Japanese supporters they were up against. The ring leaders of the group beat their loud drums and lead their eager chanting comrades. The noise they produced was amazing.
The Japanese, not be out-done, set about with their vast majority to drown out the opposing racket. The giant flags they waved at each end of the ground made cracking sounds as the sodden flags changed directions in a spray of droplets. The flags would have been between 10 and 20 feet in size and the effort required in the wet weather to wield them would have been immense. The effort was appreciated by all that watch as the flags waved and the crowd sang and chanted. All was in readiness for the big “local derby”.
The anthems were passionately sung, the team photos taken, then the crowd roared as the whistle signalled the start of the match. I was supporting the Japanese so along with the vast majority I was extremely disappointed when the Blue Samurai when a goal down after five minutes. The Korean drums beat louder and the minority made the majority of the noise. It was going to be catch-up from there for the Japanese team. The crowd rode every ball and held their heads in the hands grimacing in anguish at every missed near chance as the first half ended with the single goal – and their team down. The Korean fans sang on.
The rain had stayed away during the match but the mist that hung over the ground represented the doom felt at the prospect of losing this match for the local heroes. Both teams threw themselves at the ball – and at times at each other – but the scored remained 1-0 to South Korea late into the second half. Everyone was getting more and more anxious for an equaliser as the clock wound down. It never arrived and with only minutes to go a South Korean player was fouled in the box making an attempt on goal and penalty shot was awarded. The conversation was the ruthless coupe de grace for the Samurai. The South Koreans celebrated their goal in front of the devoted fans in the right corner behind the goal. 2-0 – the match was over.
The crowd emptied but without the vigour that it filled. It was a hard defeat for the Japanese team and supporters as they were not showing the form needed to succeed at the world cup. With twenty days before their first match in South Africa, Japanese confidence in their beloved national team had been again dinted. I’m sure the papers would be harsh on the coach – who has been put under pressure by his non-performing team – as well as the players, but I wouldn’t know as I can’t read Japanese!! Beside the fact that starting at the back and reading from right to left would cause me no end of confusion.
Driving back into the city Tanioka smiled at me and asked “You must be very tired?” I nodded in agreement and also mentioned I was also extremely hungry. After arriving in Japan at 7:30am all I had eaten was the hotdog, which was started to dwindle in size in my memory as the hunger grew larger. Tanioka laughed and assured me would eat when we got into the city. It was 11:30pm - I love food – I was hungry!
As we came into the city the lights lit up the low laying cloud illuminating the high-rise metropolis further. The misty fog had cleared and it was my first real glimpse of the magnitude of the city of Tokyo. It was lit up like a Christmas tree. I started thinking of Christmas dinner....
We stopped at the hotel, I dropped off my bags and we headed out to find some food. Tanioka chose the location and maybe it was out of respect for the victors of the evening, he chose a Korean BBQ place. He ordered a couple beers and raft of food. I think he could see by flared nostrils at the smell of food I was ready to eat. He ordered, steering clear of seafood as I’m not a big fan. The beers arrived, we clinked glasses, said cheers and drank a mouthful of the frothy malt beer. It was nice but I needed the food to arrive soon as alcohol and I don’t have the best relationship working together, so I needed some food to negate its influence on me – even in the small quantity of one glass.
The first plate arrived and as we hoed into the serve of beans the other offerings started arriving. BBQ meat of varied sorts arrived and I started helping myself. I had little to no idea what it was and wished I didn’t when Tanioka told me the tangy and slightly rubbery meat skewers I was ripping into was heart. I heard the term “have some heart” used but never actually been put in the position to act accordingly. I wasn’t exactly Christmas dinner but after 16 hours in Tokyo with only toddler sized hotdog it was magnificent none the less!! The second beer coupled with finishing everything they placed on the table before us, had me feeling a little sleepy as we walked back out into the neon-lit street in Shibuya. We made plans for the next day, said our farewells and went our separate ways.
I felt a bit light-headed from the beer, travel and day of sensory overload in one of the world’s amazing cities as I walked back into my room. I walked straight to the window and looked down at the crossing and marvelled that even now there were still large numbers crossing. I shook my head in amazement as I drew the curtains and headed for the shower. After a quick shower I got into bed at 2am and set my alarms for 10:30am. I was meeting up with Tanioka and some of his colleagues for lunch the next day.
I again woke a bit confused before my alarm at about 9 am and before I could fall back to sleep I remembered where I was and my mind started racing. I knew a city – even a world – extremely foreign to me was just outside. I couldn’t sleep anymore with that prospect beckoning to me. I woke up and drew back the curtains slowly as I could tell by the light in the join it looked bright outside. The sun was shining and it looked like a beautiful day to have a look around Tokyo!
I had a few things to do on the computer which I got out of the way quickly then went out looking for a few pictures and a coffee. I could see Starbucks from my window so I wasn’t aimlessly wandering in pursuit of caffeine. I had a destination but there were many distractions between losing my headache (never good to get addicted to anything kids) and the hotel. Getting in amongst the foot traffic on the pedestrian crossing was superb. I had to keep my wits about me as I’m prone to amble looking in every direction but the one in which I’m travelling – but the volume of people sure got my attention. It’s was like a sea of people coming towards me but even in what looks like chaos, the Japanese seem to have a system that works and it isn’t the carnage it could be.

After using the crossing a few times like a lost tourist and stopping to take pictures, I finally headed up to grab a coffee.
The window of Starbucks looks out over the crossing from the second floor so as I had my coffee and pumpkin/salad wrap, I had yet another vantage point to watch the ebb and flow of the human tide below. It’s always entertaining “people watching” especially when people make the wrong decisions and have to try and counter that split second they can’t change. This happened on around 5 occasions as I watched the crossing. People mistiming the lights and thinking they will have time to make it across only to be confronted by cars as they near the halfway point. Panicked running always amuses me. One older lady didn’t even make it a third of the way across when the traffic started converging on her. She made it safely but I think she would have lost a few years off her life!
I headed off to meet Tanioka and his colleague for lunch which was very enjoyable before heading off to Takeshita Street in Harajuku. (I kid you not that is the actually name) I was told over lunch I would encounter some very interesting people as I walked the street – but I wasn’t quite prepared. I don’t really see myself as being “cool” which turned out to be a very good thing.

Takeshita Street is the place to be seen from the uber cool to the completely ridiculous “cool” you sometimes see out of Japan. From bright coloured hair to Knee high socks with hooped dresses carrying frilly umbrellas it had it all. I walked through taking a few pictures and being thankful I was happy with who I am and didn’t have the yearning to conform to the non-conformist ideal of not trying to conform!! At some stage there must be the difficult realisation for some people that always trying to be “way out there” is conforming of sorts!! Good luck to them though as they make the world look more entertaining, lots of clothing manufactures in jobs and helps make this humble wombat happy to be just that.

Once again I found myself sitting having coffee people watching. I wouldn’t mind that becoming a theme of the trip as they are two things I really enjoy, but I don’t think I will be that lucky. It was about 3pm when I decided to have a wander and see what was around the area before heading back to the hotel. I walked a few blocks and saw a sign for a shrine so decided to talk a look. It proved to be one of my better decisions. At the entry points to the Meijingu/Yoyogi Park surrounding the Meiji Shrine, where massive wooden arches over wide paths surrounded by old growth trees.

It wasn’t what I was expecting so close to the city and I headed in to explore.
At the entry point to the shrine visitors were asked to cleanse before entering. The covered drinking bath had a spout of water flowing in from the centre with two rows of bamboo ladles laid out parallel to each other.

The process to cleanse set out was:
• Using your right hand rinse your left hand
• Using you left hand rinse your right hand
• Rinse your mouth using water poured into the palm of your left hand
• Using both hands point the cup of the ladle towards the sky and let the water flow down over the handle and both hands before replacing the ladle
With that completed I ventured inside through the heavy open wooden doorways leading to a large courtyard. Across the courtyard was the shrine itself in which people were standing praying. I respectfully watched on from a distance and enjoyed the serenity of the moment in the middle of such a hugely populated city.

I’m not very familiar with Japanese culture and religion so I’m not to sure who they were praying, so I said my own prayer to the God I believe in and kept on moving. I walked around took some pictures and as it started to get dark thought I’d better start heading back to the hotel. There were very few people left in the gardens as the gates outside had been closed so the tranquillity was a huge contrast to the streets bordering. I stepped out of the park through the now locked gates and back in the multitude I caught a taxi back to the hotel.
It was about 7:30pm and I again found myself drawn to my window looking at the crossing below. It is a new organism every time the light changes to green. New patterns, new stories, new footsteps.
I still had a few hours before my 1:45am check-in so after downloading some pictures, having a look on the net and doing some email I headed out to find some food at about 9pm. I found myself simply wandering around again taking in all the hustle and bustle happening under the ever present neon glow of a thousand signs.

After trying to find something without a great deal of luck due to my limited understanding (ha by limited I mean I have no understanding of a single character) of the language I found a pizza place with English on the menu and have a pizza and beer. Culturally it wasn’t the meal I had imagined for my last meal in Tokyo, but I took what I could get!
Back in the room I felt a little frustrated packing again after such a short stop. Oh well that’s the way things go and I really enjoyed my fleeting Tokyo experience, so no complaints would be acceptable! I did a few exercises to work off the beer and pizza before having a shower and checking out at 1am. The hotel staff where very concerned for me as they thought I had got my times mixed up as flights don’t usually leave the Hamada airport at 3:45am. After much discussion between the front desk attendant and the taxi driver they double checked my flight time and the airport, and with me showing resolute confident I was correct, I jumped in the taxi and headed for the airport. On arrival I could see the driver was relieved for me when he saw all the assembled media and a great deal of activity at departures. I had tried to explain I was on a special chartered flight with the Japanese football team but it had been lost in translation.
The airport was very busy with local media ready to capture the national team departing for their pre-world cup training camp in Switzerland, so amongst the excitement I checked in and waited for the 3:15am boarding to roll around. The team arrived and as they walked from passport control the media filled their boots with the departure images before the team finally all boarded the plane after a presentation of some sorts.

Once they were all aboard they called for the rest of us. I’m travelling with the Japanese media contingent of which there about 40 of and we took our seats at the back of the plane. The plane had been specifically laid out for the team travel with business class seats throughout the whole aircraft except for the final block of seating at the back. These were our seats. As there aren’t that many of us we all got our own row and I was one happy wombat who had 4 seats to himself to stretch out and sleep on. It was 4am local time but the time we had taken off and I changed my watch to Swiss time to manage the time zone difference. It was about 9pm Swiss time so after having a quick meal I settled down over my four seats and settled in to sleep for as many of the 11 hours of the flight as possible. Farewell Tokyo and tomorrow it will hello the Geneva and on to Saas-Fe.

2 comments:

  1. Wow - a very busy Wombat you are Warrick.

    Unfortunately it sounds like you wont have much down time in Geneva, such a formative city in the reformation & the adopted home of John Calvin.

    I look forward to future reports

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