SIGHTS OF TOKYO

I only had one full day in Tokyo, so we made the best of it going to multiple places by dealing with the intensely packed train system once more. We got off the train at Shinbuku station, which is said to the busiest train station in the world dealing with nearly 1,000,000 passengers daily and proceeded to see Harajuku, the Meiji Shrine, and Shibuya, and went to the top of the Tokyo Government building which gives you a panoramic view of the whole city (or as far as your eyes can see; I honestly never saw the end while in the city).

Harajuku is an area of Tokyo known for its outrageous youth culture. Here our main visit was on the street called “Takeshita-dori”. This street is basically a youth shopping district selling anything you can think of that the Japanese youth might want to purchase for their unbelievable fashion sense that really has nearly no rules as you would see in America. I noticed first off, that being as wacky as possible in your dressing is the style, rather than five or six main ideas. I saw girls wearing skirts that barely cover their butt cheeks along with boots of random colors and patterns that rise up past there knee caps. And to top off that outfit, they would wear even more nutty stockings that would be seen between the skirt and boots and have a purse with BARBIE written in pink on it. I saw more guys with girly hair cuts than at a bless the fall concert, as well as more T-shirts than I can count with nonsense English sayings on them like; PIE EATS, or SHOOT THE MOON. All and all, Harajuku was a great experience to see what the youth life in Tokyo is all about.

If you ever have the chance to see Tokyo, and you like Japanese tradition, I highly recommend you check out the Meiji Shrine, or Meiji Jingu in Japanese. This is a huge park containing a Japanese garden, walking trails and of course the shrine dedicated to the Meiji period of Japan, where the country went through the “Meiji restoration”; a huge turning point in modernization for Japan, not only in infrastructure, but also the ways in which daily life was lived for many people, and how the governmental system was treated.

Once you enter the gates and start to walk into the park you will completely forget that you are in a city of over 10 million people. All of the sounds of the city disappear and all that is left is the beauty of Japan’s plant and animal life. It was a very surreal place. Once you reach the main part of the shrine park, you will come across a wooden box standing about waist high with water pouring out of a faucet poking up from the middle. On top of the box are wooden ladles. These ladles are used for the traditional washing of your hands and mouth before entering the shrine itself. You are meant to take the ladle in one hand, fill it with water from the box, and wash one hand at a time with the water that you pour over them with the ladle. Once you have washed both hands you are to pour some into one palm, toss it in your mouth, and swish it around before spitting it out on the ground. Once you are clean, you dip the ladle one last time, hold it cup side up, and let the water run down the handle to wash it as well, so it isn’t dirty for the next visitor.

Inside the shrine, there are little pieces of wood that you can buy for 500 Yen (equivalent to about $5), on which you can write your hopes and dreams. Many of these, people had written things about hoping to pass exams, wishing a sick family member better, or wanting to have a safe journey through life. There were no boundaries on what you could write, just whatever you wanted to come true.

As you walk into the main floor of the shrine, there was yet another wooden box lined on top with dowels evenly spaced. Here you were meant to take coins (in Japan coins range from 1 yen, or a penny, to 500 yen, about $5) and toss them one by one into the box. As they hit the dowels, they would bounce around and make a sound that can only be heard by doing this, before falling to the bottom. I think that this action was much like a wishing well of sorts. The money was to represent, once again your dreams and ambitions, and there was no limit to the amount you could toss into the box. It was your money after all! This act is very traditional and is well known in Japanese society. Many people come here each year to take part in it.

While at the shrine, I got to see a traditional wedding procession. The bride and groom, along with their wedding party (probably close friends and relatives), start at one end of the courtyard and walk very slowly in a line to the other end, up to the side of the shrine, and then inside. We didn’t get to see the actual wedding itself, just the walk, but that was enough to understand the great meaning behind it. I can’t imagine how much it must mean to a Japanese couple to be married in the shrine. The group of people were very well dressed as you might imagine, and the bride and groom looked best of all, being shaded by an umbrella as they strolled across.

This is the traditional garden that was built inside the shrine. It contained a big pond filled with coy, the size of no other coy I had seen before. Now I have come to see coy in many places here in Japan, Some much bigger than these. It also had many wonderful plants which may have been even better in spring time or late fall when the colors are at their peak, yet still magnificent, and a tea house.

Shibuya is the type of place in Tokyo that we see in movies on a regular basis. Thousands of people out going about their daily life, huge video screens on the high rise buildings basically on every corner, shouting advertisements at you in Japanese, and best of all for me was the crosswalk I came upon. This was something I never thought I would see in my life and was incredible. There were two massive streets that came to an intersection. Crossing each street from corner to corner, just like in the states were four crosswalks. In addition to those four, they had added two more that crossed the middle in an X shape to give the most passing room to the hoards of people crossing. Everyone would wait while the cars passed first; nearly a thousand people for each turn of the light were waiting for their turn. Once the lights turned red for the cars, all of these people would hit the street crossing in all directions like ants running form a rain storm. You really had to pay attention, because due to the X shaped crosswalks, people might be walking right in front of you at any second. It was mass chaos for me, but this was all part of normal life in Shibuya. If I have another chance while in Japan, this is one place that I couldn’t miss.

This last piece is about the Tokyo Government building. You are able to ride the elevator up about 40 floors into a huge room filled with windows which creates a panoramic view of the entire city (or as far as you can see before your eyes quit working!). This was a truly astonishing moment for me. I had never even seen the biggest cities in my own country and to see the entirety of Tokyo from about was fantastic. you could see everything from up there; including all the places we had gone earlier in the day and the mass of the shrine. Here are my photos which were taken from all directions from the building to show how far it goes on.

Finally in Japan!

We landed At Narita International airport around 2:20 PM on September 30th, which in date time is two days after I departed Seattle, due to Japan being across the International Date Line and 16 hours ahead of Oregon by time zones. I walked off the plane and headed toward customs (yet another thing I had never dealt with and was completely new at). At the customs window I had my first run in with the language barrier. There were Japanese airport personnel directing people to where we needed to be, but I couldn’t understand a word they were saying. I just watched where they pointed and followed the other people that I thought might know what to do. At the window, I handed the gentlemen my passport, visa, and paperwork I was instructed to bring. He had me lay my two pointer fingers on a small electronic pad that kept my prints on record and also had me look into a little camera box to get my mug shot. I’m sure I looked like a movie star after 13.5 hours on a plane! He stamped my passport and set me on my way to the next checkpoint behind him. Here, another mad asked me for some paperwork I had to fill out before landing asking about what I was bringing into the country in my luggage. He said to me “do you have anything to declare?” I simply said no and that was that. I was through customs without a single problem and finally safe and sound on the ground in Japan.

All of the signs and things were half in Japanese writing and half in English letters. The English being all I could read, but it sure was a sobering moment realizing that I would have to pretty much decipher a code on all signs during the duration of my stay. A bit scary then, honestly, but now after about nearly a month it’s quite normal.

We needed to get into Tokyo to the place I would stay with my aunt and cousin for a few days so we went to the ticket counter for a limousine bus that would take us most of the way. Here was tricky. None of us spoke Japanese besides the little bit I had studied previously, and we had to ask the lady how much the price was, where the bus would come to get us, as well as make sure we would be going the right way on the right bus. She spoke nearly no English and we had to work by body language and pointing once again (which I’ve grown quite accustomed to in the past weeks). We made it to the bus and rode it for about two hours while I got to see the amazing city of Tokyo for the first time.

The freeway we took through the city (Expressway as the Japanese call it), ran incredibly close to high rise buildings and people’s housing structures. You could literally see in peoples windows from the bus, and this is how millions live in that city. The ride was long but I dint realize because I was infatuated with looking out the windows at all the sights to see. Most of the bus ride (one and a half hours worth) was through the city itself! That’s how far it goes. It’s like it doesn’t end; Concrete jungle for an eternity.

Once the bus arrived at its destination, Shichijoji train station I believe it was called, we had to navigate the city train system for the first time. The system is obviously massive in the city going pretty much everywhere a person might need to go, and using what seemed like maybe 15 different lines or so. In the Portland metro area we have the MAX which you can walk up and board without paying fare if you’re so inclined and you might get away with it, but maybe not. In Japan, you must buy a ticket which you load into a little machine on one end of the gate at the front of the station. Once you insert the ticket the gate will open and you can go through. The ticket shoots out the other side for you to grab and keep until you get to your destination, then you head to the right train platform. After your trip, you are to go to the gate in the second station and insert your ticket once more. This does the same as the first and the gate will open for you to leave, although it keeps your ticket so that you can’t use it for a second trip without re-paying. If the ticket is not inserted the gates won’t open and you can’t leave the station. Also, there is no multi hour passes like on MAX. You must pay both ways and depending on your distance of travel the fare goes up or down.

Once we figured this entire thing out, we boarded the train at the most cramped time! it must have been commuter rush hour in the city because there was literally only standing room, and you had to stand while touching every person around you. It was quite an experience.

We made it to our destination, worked the second part of inserting tickets as I have explained and proceeded to walk to the residence we would be staying at in the rain. We walked through a really cool shopping district street of which there are many in Japan. This one was quite small compared to others I saw later in Tokyo as well as here in Okayama.

Leaving America - My New Life Part 1

Airports are something that I have never dealt with growing up. Until my trip was to begin, I had only been to the Portland airport and only maybe three or four times to pick up or see off friends and family. The purpose had never been for me. As I was driving to Seattle I could only think of how the flight would be and how nervous I was to do something as big as what lied in front of me. I knew literally nothing about flying; didn’t know how to check my baggage, how to get through security, or even get my ticket and boarding pass. I felt like a little child again learning things that the typical person has done several times or more.

In the end, the Seattle airport was quite simple. It was empty due to being nearly 11:00 PM on a Monday night, so there weren’t crowds of people to work around. I walked to my gate, sat down and waited for my name to be called from the stand-by list as all of the other passengers with real tickets boarded. I could see my plane out the window, and that is when I felt more scared than ever before.

Walking down the corridor that links the planes to the terminal I knew I was about to do the biggest thing I have done to date and there was no turning back. Within 20 hours I would be in Tokyo, Japan. Uncharted territory to not only myself, but to my entire family and most people I have ever had contact with. I felt like Lewis and Clark!

We took off and flew for about 4 hours through the middle of the night to Houston, Texas. Along the way, crossing many other states that I had never been to and seeing city lights that I had obviously never seen before. One my biggest thrills was seeing the lights of Dallas out the plane window. Millions of small dots that seemed to go on forever, and this being, at the time, the biggest city I had ever seen. It was phenomenal.

The plane landed in Houston around 5:30 AM and there I had nearly a five hour layover until my international flight to Tokyo. I went outside to catch a smoke and breathe the Texas air, and also just to say I had been to Texas rather than just another airport. Even at 5:30 in the morning Houston was nasty muggy. I felt wet as soon as I stepped through the doors. I don’t think I could handle that much humidity on an everyday basis, although I have been told that here in Okayama during spring, the humidity will soar past 80% multiple times a week so I better be prepared to be a sweaty mess.

Around 10:30 AM I began to board my second plane. This time would be an international flight, and I would be leaving the only country I have set foot in, and most of all, my home. But I was time. I had worked very hard to earn this year in Japan, and had waited nearly a year for the moment that the plane would leave the ground.

Once aboard, my aunt Michelle asked one of the flight attendants if I could have a look in the cock pit. It wasn’t even a stretch and I was led up there in just a few moments. The cock pit of these jets are insane! So many little gadgets and gages, it looked like a nuclear launch consol at the pentagon or something from a war movie. I stood there for a few minutes talking to the pilots and explaining that this was my first overseas flight. One made the comment that it was his as well, obviously joking, trying to make me laugh a little to calm my nerves.

Once I found my seat, I couldn’t believe how nice the plane was. Three sections wide, including two isles and 10 seats. In the rear of the seat In front of everyone had a small touch screen TV imbedded inside loading with nearly 100 movies, a number of sitcom episodes, small video games like asteroids, space invaders and solitaire, as well as part where you could look at all of the flight details, including our speed, distance to landing and how far we had traveled in miles, and our altitude. This setup kept my quite satisfied and entertained through the 13.5 hour duration of my flight.