Yokohama and Tokyo - a glimpse of modern Japan
Trip Start
Aug 21, 2007
1
25
27
Trip End
Dec 20, 2007
Tokyo,
Japan
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
From Hiroshima our next stop was to be Yokohama, a metropolis just south of Tokyo. We went there to visit Mayumi whom I'd met in the Australian outback 4 years ago and still have regular contact with. It was great to visit her, her husband Junichi and her 2-month old son Kohta. It was great to catch up with Mayumi. Kohta was a very cuddly and astonishingly alert bundle of joy. And Junichi introduced us to some excellent Japanese hip hop ("Rhymester"). They also introduced us to some interesting Japanese sweets (we really got hooked to rice crackers that became our staple food for the rest of our trip). Their warm hospitality was really heartfelt and we were sad to leave again.
We then headed for our last destination in Japan: Tokyo
Tokyo from Metropolitan government building
. We thought we'd try another Japanese novelty and decided to spend our nights in a capsule hotel. That's an interesting one. They're designed to accommodate business travellers or party goers who have a late night out and are unable to make their last bus or train home. You basically sleep in a coffin-size box in a room of 60 or so boxes. They're usually equipped with a TV, a radio and temperature control and have a blind at the front for privacy. They are mostly male only. The few capsule hotels that do take women are strictly sex segregated with tight security for the ladies. This meant Regine and I were separated for 2 nights. Our capsule hotel was relatively central in Tokyo Akihabara. It had a relatively strict regimen: Lock your shoes in at the entrance. Trade in your shoe box key for a locker key. Squeeze your baggage into the locker provided where you'll also find toothbrush, mini towel and a bathrobe. Go to the communal bath, scrub yourself, hop into the hot tub (shower only for ladies) and get dried off. Then crawl into your capsule and leaf through porno mags (not provided) until you fall asleep. The Japanese are relatively pain-free when it comes to sex. Not only do some of the ladies wear skirts that seem to stop mid pubic triangle, but you can buy pornography at public vending machines (spotted). In fact, we were told you could even draw used panties from machines should you be that way inclined (not spotted)
Cuddling with Kohta, Yokohama
. Porn comics are consumed publicly on the metro (spotted), and in full subways there apparently is a culture of groping and overtly rubbing up to the ladies (thankfully not spotted). We wandered through the Imperial Palace eastern gardens and some of Tokyo's classy shopping areas: Shibuya and Ginza. We also visited the red light district in Shibuya: not very exciting as we were probably too early to be confronted by the touts. We did spot a steady coming and going from the numerous so-called love hotels, though. They apparently have themed room to choose from (dungeon, velvet, Tarzan and Jane...etc.) and display their rates for night and day stays. Much better was the (free) view from the 104th floor of the impressive Metropolitan Government Office towers in Shibuya: city stretching to the horizon in every direction.
It was very interesting to observe the trendy Japanese youngsters patrolling the streets. The most common look in men is a rockabilly appearance with up sloping pointy shoes, tight black garb, possibly some goth make-up and gravity defying hair creations that would make you assume the ozone layer over Japan has been burned clean away by hairspray over-indulgence. The ladies are done up in more varied styles. Young folks will often artistically sling at least 2 mobile phones
Visiting Mayumi, Junichi and Kohta, Yokohama
. It's fun to just stand at a busy corner and people watch. A highlight was the Tsukiji fish market. You have to get up in the wee hours to see the action there, but it's well worth it. It's the biggest fish market in Japan and taking in the enormous amounts of fish, especially large tunas, we're surprised there are still any left in the sea. The tunas get sold off by manically bobbing auctioneers to then get hauled away on wooden carts. There's a good chance to get run over by the sheer traffic of various transport vehicles at the market. Of course there are vast quantities of shellfish, mussels and smaller fish of all possible varieties for sale in the staggering amount of tiny stalls wedged together in the countless acres of the covered market. Didn't see any obvious whale, but what do we know. We went to try some Sashimi (raw fish) at an on-site restaurant. It doesn't get any fresher than that. Our host J.J. was a character. He spoke 5 languages very well and tried to teach us some Japanese. He explained the food and in the end we settled for raw squid, tuna and scallops complimented by barbequed unagi: eel. Great stuff!
At another occasion we had a wide variety of Sushi serve up with some indefinable desserts and hot sake. Mmmmhhh! We also had classic Japanese take-away: various meats in a deep fried batter
Tokyo skyline
. Tastes way better than it sounds!! We'll certainly remember the 4 (!!!!!) hour Bunraku puppet theatre presentation we attended at the national theatre. We developed a taste for Bunraku in Kyoto and were glad we could get tickets for this epic performance involving at least 70 people on stage over the course of the evening. Bunraku puppets are about 2/3 life-size with a smaller than scale head. It takes a unit of 3 performers to move each puppet and here's the interesting bit: The puppeteers are on stage. The head puppeteer wears a formal dress with his head uncovered. His 2 assistants are unrecognizable in their black hooded ninja-style suits. The head puppeteer mans the head and the right hand. He can control eye, mouth and eyebrow movements by a system of levers. He also stands on plateau shoes above his assistants. These man the left hand and feet, respectively. Working in unison they make the puppets move very lifelike. The colourful costumes and dramatic storylines make Bunraku performances very captivating experiences. And that's just the optics. On the side of the stage is a separate stage containing the narrator and the Shamizen player. The narrator tells the story, comments on the mood and speaks all characters. At our performance some scenes had up to seven different narrators all speaking individual characters. With 7 narrators on the side you'd have up to 7 people on the stage at once which equates to 21 puppeteers plus stage hands
Hip Tokyoites
. What a glorious spectacle. Other scenes had one narrator speaking all characters. The Shamizen is a 3-stringed lute played with a giant pick of destiny. The melodies and sounds from the Shamizen underline the mood and set the rhythm for the performance. The Bunraku company performed a piece each in traditional style (Shogun court epics) and more modern style (commoner tales). It was such an enjoyment for us because we always knew what was going on thanks to real time comments via a button-in-the ear headphone system.
What high class entertainment!! We were thrilled to bits despite the length.
Now it was time to leave this beautiful island empire to the US. Our two last stops were to be Las Vegas and Peoria, Ilinois.
