Tokyo

Back in November, right after the Halloween party, I had a chance to go to Tokyo for a week for a workshop. The workshop itself was pretty interesting, and quite different in a lot of ways from various conferences and workshops that I've been to in Europe and North America. Among other things, every Japanese scientist had a business card, which was ceremonially presented upon meeting new contacts. I really wish I'd had some to bring with me, but they're not usually something that I use. Also, while the second two days were devoted to presentations by all of the science teams whose proposals for the use of data from a new Japanese satellite had been accepted (including the proposal from my institute, which is why I was there), the first day was devoted to presentations from the Japanese science teams, from their national space agency (JAXA) and environment agency (NIES), about the soon-to-be-launched satellite, and these talks were open to the media. So of course, all of these talks (with the exception of one) were in Japanese, and were translated in real time, and we were all given headsets with which we could hear the English translation. The translators were amazing, considering the amount of jargon that these technical talks included, but the question and answer periods were a bit more chaotic. In any case, it was an interesting experience.

But of course, aside from the science, it gave me a chance to explore Tokyo a bit.

I arrived on a Sunday morning, and took the train in from the airport (which could only be paid by cash, not visa). Still with my luggage in tow, as check-in at my hotel was no earlier than 5 pm, I headed onto the subway to one of the busiest shopping districts, at Shinjuku station, to check out the department stores. Or more precisely, the basement of these department stores, which hold world-famous food departments, with delicacies from Japan and elsewhere.

I really hate taking pictures in public places, especially when I'm alone, and I was already feeling self-conscious as the white girl with the suitcase, but I did work up my nerve to get a couple of pictures in areas where there were no people at the counters.

Here's a display of plastic food, which was shockingly expensive. Like up to $300 per bento box of artificial goodness. I'm guessing that this is mostly for restaurants, as almost all restaurants provided either photos with every item of their menu or plastic models of all the dishes on display in the window. It's really a blessing for a foreign tourist who understands no Japanese, but I had no idea they were so expensive!
Also shockingly expensive were the fruit, which aren't intended for day-to-day use (there are regular grocery stores for that sort of thing), but rather as posh corporate and/or hostess gifts. These are no regular fruit - they're huge and perfect, and expertly wrapped. This box is 10 500 yen, which is something like $120 Canadian/80 €.
This was the view right outside the metro stop when the crossing lights turned into a pedestrian free-for-all (i.e. the traffic in all directions has to stop, so people can cross the intersection in all directions, including diagonally).
From there I walked on to the Meiji shrine, which was built in the 1920s in honour of emporor Meiji (who died in 1912) and his consort. It was destroyed in WWII, but rebuilt afterwards, and is a lovely park complex which was filled with people on the Sunday that I arrived. And the bridge leading from the Harajuku metro station to the park is a popular meeting spot for "cosplay" (costume play) girls on Sunday afternoons. I didn't get a good picture, mostly because I was too shy - there are all these teenagers dressed up in the most elaborate costumes you can imagine, who get together and hang out, mostly to be seen, from what I could tell. Some aspects of Japanese pop culture are truly too bizarre.
Also at the entrance to the park (and seen at other Shinto shrines) were huge walls of lanterns with things written on them. Of course I can't read Japanese, but based on the one thing that was written in English at another shrine, I think they might be ads for businesses that sponsor the shrine somehow. There are large blocks or rows of lanterns all with the same thing written on them, which seems consistent with this idea. (Feel free to correct me, if anyone knows better.)
And here is one of the main gates to the shrine (torii), made of giant cypress logs.
Inside the park there were lots of people (mostly women and children) who were wearing traditional garb (elaborate kimonos, impractical-seeming wooden sandals, etc.). I didn't see it as often in the city during the week - perhaps it's a weekend thing?

At this shrine there was a wall of sake barrels, with an explanation written only in Japanese, but across from it was this display of wine barrels from the Bourgogne region of France, which were donated as a gesture of friendship. It seems that Emporor Meiji was very open to influences of Western culture, including the food and drink. It seemed like a funny thing to have on display at a shrine, but what do I know?

There was also a big display of dahlias, and chrysanthemums (shown below) which had been trained into elaborate shapes on metal frames.
Here's my bento box lunch, which I picked up at one of the department stores before heading to the park. It got a bit destroyed by being carried around, but still looked pretty nice, and had many little dishes of contrasting tastes and textures. I truly loved the food there.

There was some sort of show or ceremony going on in the courtyard of the main temple while I was there, with a man with elaborate make-up dancing with fans. I apologize for my vagueness about what I was seeing, but I really didn't have a clue what was going on most of the time, and was also a bit out of it still. Recall that I hadn't even checked into my hotel yet...
Eventually it was getting late enough that I'd be allowed to check into my hotel, so I took the metro across town to Asakusa, the neighbourhood where I was staying. Upon checking in, the woman at the front desk explained some complicated system where I could pay half price for the first three nights (because Monday was a national holiday) if I got a membership to the hotel chain, which cost less than half the price for the first three nights. In any case, I could save some money if I signed a paper and got my picture taken for the membership card. I agreed, and then had to go pose before the camera they had set up at the front desk, which looked like a round webcam hooked up to their computer. So I went over, stood there, and looked into the lens, which had written around it in tiny white letters: Carl Zeiss Jena.

After exploring my tiny but wonderfully comfortable and efficient hotel room (more on that later), I headed out to find something for supper. I ended up getting some tempura and rice at a little place in this shopping arcade nearby. It, and all the streets nearby, were decorated with these garishly-coloured branches of leaves in fall colours (it was around the season that the Japanese maples turn colour). They looked nice at night, but during the day were a bit too bright.
The neighbourhood is known for a few things, one of which is the concentration of shops specializing in traditional Japanese folkcrafts. For instance, there were drum stores, mask stores, and, pictured below, several kimono tailors. The traditional kimono cloth is sold in rolls of a fixed width, which is then pieced together to make the garments. I sort of wish I'd taken the time to bring back some fabric, but this was only 3.5 months after the wedding, and I couldn't bring myself to think about sewing just yet.
Also in this neighbourhood is the Asakusa temple complex. It was really beautiful as I visited it that night, but I went back again during the daytime to be able to buy some gifts and snack food (which was basically a gift for Jeremi) while the stalls were open. Here's the main pagoda:
The central temple:

Here you can see some of those lanterns lit up, with what I think are ads on them.
The lanterns line the path leading from the entrance gate, behind which are rows of stalls which sell food and souvenirs during the day. Even at night, when most things were closed up, there were lots of people walking around, enjoying the ambiance, and the comfortable temperatures. (I don't think I needed my jacket the whole time I was there, I was wearing capris, and it was November.)

One of the statues inside the gate:

Here's the view of the main gate at the southern entrance from the other side of the street:

This sign was in the front window of a nearby bakery, which was closed, unfortunately. Stollen is a traditional German Christmas cake, which you find everywhere here come December. I was surprised to find it in Tokyo in early November, mind you!
This is a bit silly, but I was excited to see this sign on a highrise, which I assume is the headquarters of that great zipper monopoly, YKK. (If you don't believe me, check your zipper. They're almost all made by YKK.)
This was a sign on a construction site - I have no idea what the Japanese says, or what the English is supposed to mean.
Then I found a shoe store, which had a bunch of signs in German, which I found amusing. The poster below means "Health begins with the feet".
I also ventured into a grocery store, which is always fun to do when travelling. Besides, I wanted to stock up on some snacks for my room and for the next day of tourism. Which leads me to the first video, which brings you through a brief tour of the produce department (huge, perfect fruits and vegetables, mostly individually wrapped), and into the meat department, where you get the ambiance of a butcher calling out to sell his wares, without the need for an actual employee...






Also amusing there was the instant noodle "Spaghetti", which came with an instant tomato sauce, and seaweed to sprinkle on top.

I bought a few things, most of which weren't too notable, except for these giant apples. I don't know if it's clear from this picture just how enormous these apples were, but I found it hard to finish one in a single sitting. And I didn't buy the only giant apples either - they were pretty well all this big. Bizarre.

And finally, my last picture from my first day of exploration - a vending machine for batteries, next to my hotel, right on the sidewalk. In case you just can't make it through the night without another pack of AAs.


The next day was a holiday in Japan, and I decided to do some more sight-seeing. On the way to the river for a cruise through town, I passed through the Asakusa shrine again, this time during daylight, when everything was open. This let me better appreciate the fish in the ponds:

...the lovely landscaping...
...and the incredibly creepy little shrines. I don't know why, but I found these little stone statues dressed up in baby bibs to be sort of disturbing.

The food stalls were open though, so I got to see them making all sorts of lovely things, like these little face-shaped cakes filled with bean paste, which were cooked in cast-iron molds that he's filling up in this picture.
From there it was a short walk to the river, where you can see the big Sapporo building, meant to look like a glass of beer (the gold one on the left, with the foamy head on top), next to the building with the golden turd on top. Not sure about that one.
From there I boarded a ferry which travelled under rainbow-coloured bridges...




...until it arrived at Hamarikyu Garden, where I got off. This garden is a little island of calm and tranquility, surrounded by a salt-water moat, in the middle of bustling Tokyo.



This is the view through one of the duck blinds, as the garden also contained one of the most ridiculously complicated duck-hunting set-ups I'd ever heard of. From the blind you can see a narrow channel of water, leading out to a bigger pond.
Here's the view of the gate through which the other picture is taken (the ko-nozoki), built into a man-made dyke.
Here was the explanation given on an accompanying sign, of exactly how this system worked (with the English corrected slightly). Complicated enough?

A Kamo-ba is a duck hunting field traditionally created on the grounds of a feudal lord's coutry villa. This Kamo-ba was created in 1778 and through time it has been expanded and improved.

In the Kamo-ba, there is a pond called the tameh. Within this pond there is a flat isalnd. The pond is surrounded by a bank where evergreen trees, bamboo reeds and other plants have been thickly planted so as to provide a place for the ducks to rest safetly. Built on the banks is a shed for osberving the whole pond, this is called the oh-nozoki. Connected to the pond is a long narrow creek, called hikibori, on both sides of which small banks have been built. At the end of the creek, there is another place observation called ko-nozoki.

Domestic ducks which are raised in the pond are used as decoys in duck hunting. During the hunt, these ducks are lured into the creek by the sound of wooden boards being struck and also using some built in the ko-nozoki.

When wild ducks have followed these decoy ducks into the creek, an iron latticed door that is submerged in the creek water is pulled up. Surprised, the ducks try to fly away and are caught in the net spread by the catchers who were waiting behind the small banks on both sides of the creek.

And above is the charming oh-nozoki, which provides a view onto the whole pond.

Here was one of many giant spiders with giant webs that I saw throughout the park and the city in general. These things were pretty big, and the webs were significant enough that I wouldn't want to walk into one by mistake.

Here were some ladies in traditional dress, out to enjoy the garden and a snack at the tea house.

Here is the charming tea house, on the pond of the garden, with the high-rises of Tokyo in the background.

From here I walked into one of the commercial districts of Tokyo (because what district isn't commercial?). This was also home to the main Kabuki theatre of Tokyo, seen below. I ended up going the next afternoon to see a Kabuki play, or at least one act of one (because the whole thing can take something like 8 hours). They helpfully provided headsets with English explanations of approximately what was going on, as well as brochures to explain some of the culture behind it. The response of the crowd was most interesting to me - when a principal actor would appear on stage, people would yell out their "house name" or yagō, related to their style of acting, or their father's name. (Though it wasn't always so, the theatre that I visited used only male actors, for female roles as well.) The style of acting was completely different, and highly exaggerated. In all, it was a strange, but enjoyable, experience.
From there I continued on my walk through the city, past the Imperial Palace, with its impressive moats and gardens.

Unfortunately the gardens were closed for the day. They're usually opened on Mondays, but because it was a holiday I was out of luck.

As the evening went on, I continued my explorations, heading into the electronics district, where people in the know can apparently get good deals on various electrical and computer-related products. I was only window-shopping, but was impressed by the display in this shop, which specialized in vintage equipment, and had a broad range of decades-old oscilloscopes and meters on display.
This neighbourhood also let me achieve one of my missions while I was in Tokyo: to buy two comic books for a friend (who lived in Jena at the time). He'd given me the names and images of the covers that I was able to print out and bring with me, in the hopes that someone could direct me to the right place. I ended up finding success at this enormous shop (half a block, and four storeys high), but only after a couple of misfires.
I was also impressed by the range of weapons being sold on the sidewalk immediately outside (most of which are restricted in Canada, I believe).

And now, for a brief tour of my hotel room. It was tiny, but I loved it. Here you can see the compact arrangement of desk (with lan cable retracting into the wall), fridge, TV, mirror, hair dryer, TV, tea pot, hot plate, slippers, and beside table, right next to the bed, on which you can see the pyjamas that were provided by the hotel. (They not only gave me fresh pyjamas every day, but also fresh packets of tea, and a new disposable comb, razor, and toothbrush set.) There was also a humidifier under the bed if I felt I needed it, and a shelf with a variety of reading material, mostly semi-religious, or about meditation techniques.There was also a few magazines in a folder on the wall. Of course, I couldn't read them, but I was greatly amused by the pictures. This sequence involved photos of a dog drinking beer, eating edamame (soy beans), and blushing (see the left photo). He's saying something in all his thought bubbles, but I have no idea what it is.


There were also several pictures of kittens. Not that I don't like kittens and dogs with thought bubbles posed in funny positions and drinking beer, but I thought it was a pretty odd thing to have in the hotel magazine for a hotel catering primarily to business people.

After this, I spent most of my time at the conference, though I was able to go out in the evenings with some of the other scientists. One night we went and visited the Tokyo Tower, which looks like a smaller, red and white version of the Eiffel Tower.

There was even a giant Hello Kitty bus parked outside!
The view from the top was pretty cool...


And of course, causing no dissonance in Tokyo, there was also a shrine at the top, next to the ice cream shop.
There was also a large shrine right next to the tower, with a graveyard...
...and rows and rows of these little stone statues dressed in bibs and red bonnets, with flowers and pinwheels.
There were really lots of them. We asked a couple Japanese scientists who were with us what these were for, and they weren't entirely sure, but it seemed to have something to do with dead children.
It was also really nice to be able to go out with other people in the evening once the meeting started. I don't really like eating alone, and eating is one of my favourite things to do when travelling. Also, since some Japanese PhD students and postdocs were strongly encouraged to accompany groups of foreigners for supper in the evening, they were able to help us out to order more interesting food, and to give us some etiquette tips. One guy was incredibly impressed with me, because I knew so many Japanese words, like daikon, edamame, tempura, udon... This seems obvious to many Canadians, but Europeans really aren't as familiar with these words, or these foods.

There was one woman from New Zealand who I spent some time with in the evenings, and who was a vegetarian. This isn't a really common concept there, and menus will regularly not mention meat when describing a dish. She had ordered something with tofu and bitter melon, only to find that it also came with something like Spam and cooked eggs, topped with benito flakes. I offered to eat it, since I'll eat pretty well anything usually, and it actually was pretty tasty, but while it was steaming, the benito flakes on top completely looked like squirming worms. Don't believe me? The video doesn't really do it justice, but you get the idea:



Afterward our host managed to order her some sort of salad, which came with the most delightful seaweed on top, which had little groups of beads, that popped with salty goodness when you bit them. Delish!

And since we're on the topic of food, I finally managed to take a picture of the breakfast that they had at the hotel where I was staying. It changed slightly from day to day, but there was always tea, some sort of miso-like soup, rice cakes (seasoned with different things), some pickled vegetables (often including plums, the red things seen here), and some salad or vegetable dishes. They also had some "Western"-style options, like coffee, bread, and powdered scrambled eggs, but I was more than happy with this breakfast. Just looking at it now makes me hungry.

And finally, because no Westerner's trip to Tokyo can be complete without a discussion of toilets, here we go. The toilet in my hotel room was pretty impressive, with adjustable bidet functions, a heated seat, and various other accoutrements. What suprised me more though, was the public bathroom by the conference room at the hotel where the meeting was held. Once you sat on the seat (or pushed on the seat with your foot for the sake of this video), the electronic device next to you started playing the sound of running water, to mask any uncouth sounds that might be coming from your stall. And then, of course, it flushed automatically when you stood up. I think there might have been some automatic air freshening going on as well - I don't remember entirely.



If you made it to the end, good for you! That was really a monster post, which held me up for quite a while. I hope you enjoyed it!