Touch Down Tokyo

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After an easy flight on Thai Airways (an excellent airline, even if you are stuck in the poor man’s seats!), we arrived in Japan’s capital early morning. Once through immigration (and having bowed what already seemed like a million times), we were ready for our Japanese adventure.

The first thing that impressed us was the huge public transportation system; getting oriented with around 20 metro and numerous train lines seemed like a challenge at the start, but turned out to be surprisingly easy… as long as the stations had English signs. Beyond that, we were struck by the cleanliness of the city, the punctuality and precision of everything, the amount of people wearing hygienic face masks, and by how efficiently things seem organized. Phil was delighted by the sophisticated toilets (almost all of which offer bidets, heated toilet seats, and a sound system making flushing noises), and there was a drinks vending machine wherever we looked.

After our first metro ride, and tired from 24 hours of travel, we exited the station, walking straight into a steady stream of people − mainly men − in suits (mainly black, and white shirts), all going in the same direction in a very orderly fashion, some even reading mails or on the phone while they were walking. One big, quiet march of the suits: surreal, like something out of a “Matrix” movie.

We later found out that the Japanese language has adopted many words from foreign languages. These men in suits are referred to as “sararīman” (from salary+man). Some of the other incorporated words are “kyariaūman” (career woman), konpyūta (computer), bīru (beer), and happīendo (happy end, presumably meant to describe movies). A few, such as onanī (masturbation) and penisu (penis), left me wondering if there was no expression for these “things” prior to the incorporation of the English term, but I have yet to find someone I can ask. Thankfully, Japanese is not tonal, but it does sport an extensive grammatical system for expressing politeness and formality. Once again, both of us settled for the basics only (although we likely get even those wrong!), hoping that the additional bows and smiles  added to anything we tried to say excused our failed attempts at speaking.

Over the next few days, we enjoyed a program of sightseeing, working (we are both starting to really appreciate Starbucks and the office space they make available for a few lattes), and lots of amazing food (which I will write about separately), all the while making a sport out of not locating things we were trying to find… That comes as no surprise in Tokyo, considering the houses aren’t numbered sequentially but according to when they were registered. A fun twist for anyone navigating!

The people, while slightly reserved (presumably because of an often-present language barrier), are more than eager to help you out if you’re in need… or at least respond to your request with a Japanese sentence. In general, people will speak to us in Japanese… whereupon we’re left in a perpetual state of delightful confusion. At the same time, we’re constantly amazed at the varied dress styles people sport… from traditional garb to anime everything. Lots of women wear high heels, although they all seem to be wearing shoes a few sizes too large (we haven’t figured out why), and many walk with their feet pointed inwards. This is apparently due to the fact that walking pigeon-toed is the proper way of walking when dressed in a kimono. It certainly looks strange to us!

Highlights (beyond the food) included a long walk in one of Tokyo’s parks containing the shinto shrine Meiji-jingu, where we were approached by a group of Japanese students who gave us a tour, in return for practicing their English with them. An exhibition of Hiroshige prints made my list of favorite things done, while the Tokyo National Museum (where we admired everything from masks to swords) made it onto Phil’s list of favorite museums owing to the large number of comfy sofas they had everywhere. We both enjoyed the bustling Shibuya area (where you can marvel at one very busy street crossing), and our visit to a large cemetery where we paid our respects to the last shogun. One of Phil’s childhood dreams came true when we spent an afternoon wandering around the Akihabara district (one of the gaming districts), where we located a second-hand retro game shop and he went from shelf to shelf explaining all the consoles to me.

So far, Japan is everything − and more − than we expected!