Tokyo Dispatch #5
December 11, 2007
After an all too brief break in the states for Turkey day I am back again in the land of the rising sun. Fortunately this stint is a relatively brief 26 days until I get to come home for an extended three week break over Christmas and the New Year. This will, however, be followed by what is likely my last and longest period in Japan which will last roughly 3 months. I don’t want to think about that now, and will deal with it as it comes.
The Tokyo picture at the right is from a local bookstore called Tsutaya, which is combined, with a large Starbucks that I pass by everyday. I had occasionally stopped here for an English language newspaper but I was surprised to find that bookstores are quite a bit different from in the US. While looking for a book the other day (on Kanji or Chinese characters) I noticed that there is a demo copy of almost everything in stock and there are actually signs encouraging people pick up a Coffee (Grande Hotto Skinny Latte Takeouto Onegaishimas) and hang out looking at the books. Consequently, my local Tsutaya, which is actually the size of an American Barnes and Noble, is constantly busy morning, noon and night. I guess the book the person in the lower left hand corner of the picture was looking at was boring so he decided to take a bit of a snooze, but that’s OK in Japan, people nap everywhere.
Shortly after my arrival back in Japan I unfortunately got a chance to experience the socialized Japanese medical system first hand. I will spare you the details but suffice it to say I am still a little banged up but fine. What is relevant is that I got to see an unusual side to Japanese culture while I was in the hospital. While waiting to be admitted into the hospital for a few IV’s and a bunch of X-rays and an Ultrasound I was sitting in the urgent care area in a lot of pain. What was astounding to me is how compassionate random strangers were. In a culture where physical isolation is high art I had these random people reaching out to touch me, pat my back, stroke my hand, just incredibly sincere compassion for the Gaijin woman in obvious distress hanging out in the waiting room. I tell you, that caring from complete strangers went a long way toward staying calm as the Doctor in broken English was trying to tell me he was thinking maybe my gall bladder had to come out. My big lesson is the longer I am here, the less I understand this place.
As you can see from the picture at the right, taken just this past weekend, after a week of recovery I am back to my normal self, so no worries. Sorry about the ubiquitous iPod headphones but this has turned into a piece of survival technology for me. The only news I get is VERY oriented toward Asia (CNN Japan, BBC Asia and of course all the Japanese stations) and I discovered a great way to keep up with what is going on at home is to download Podcasts. As a result I really don’t listen to music much any more but tend to use my iPod to listen to CNN Radio, NPR (Fresh Air), the NBC Nightly news (with video!), and a couple of wacky favorites like GeekBrief and Tech5. There is a lot of downloadable content out there and it keeps me in touch with what is going on at home.
It is, however, starting to get a little chilly here which adds to the holiday spirit that is beginning to pervade Tokyo. Unlike the U.S., somehow Christmas and Valentines Day have gotten mixed together in some weird alternate universe way and there are hearts everywhere along with the Santa’s and Christmas trees. Since the custom here is that gifts are exchanged as a New Years custom why not mix in the romance of Valentines day? I struggle with this a little bit though – Valentines is February!
There are MASSIVE numbers of lights everywhere lighting up the city in amazing ways. The picture of the right is a boulevard not far from my apartment (which has all the high end shops on it, like Escada, Harrods, Hugo Boss, etc – kind of a mini New York 5th Avenue) and the trees lining the it are just covered in literally thousands of pale blue lights. I have to admit, as jaded a traveler as I am, as I cross this street every night this view still takes my breath away.
Speaking of New York, I am beginning to find there are many parallels between Tokyo and New York City that go deeper than just the density of the living arrangements. On example is that I have had the pleasure of seeing the Christmas tree in Rockefeller center every year for the last few years. Given that I am a long way from New York the Mikimoto (as in the company which invented the cultured pearl) Christmas tree down on the Ginza is admitted a poor substitute but you take what life gives you, no? Actually this tree is quite beautiful and oddly enough imported to Japan from Oregon so it has that wonderful pine smell that permeates the Northwest this time of year.
The Ginza is the famous place you know from the night time pictures of Japan with the gaudy lights. Ginza IS shopping central for a country, where as near as I can tell, shopping is a competitive team sport. I went to Ginza this past weekend (oddly enough looking for some fresh strawberries which are sold in the basement grocery stores of the high end department stores) and the crowds were are absolutely enormous. With my trusty little digital camera there is no way I can give you a sense of how many people there are, but, and this is not an exaggeration, think of the crowds exiting a major sporting event like a Green Bay Packers or Yankees game, and this gives you some sense of how many people are milling about on the streets (the four lane road is closed on the weekend to accommodate the crowds). If I wasn’t used to being crammed in a subway car every morning for the first few stops with a hundred or so folks it would probably bother me, but this is certainly no place for the Agoraphobic.
Well that’s all for this week. I come back home in just nine days so I will try to get my last Tokyo Dispatch for the year out next week with my promised updates on tiny Japanese dogs and Japanese White Trash fashion.