Good food, the perverse and profane, that's one side of Tokyo. Tranquil spots, minimalist design and expensive-ness is another. Yes, I invented yet another new word.
Golden Town is right next to my hotel, it's a small collection of ramshackle tin roof places with tiny bars, foreigners are mostly not welcome. There are dozens squashed into each tiny street, so the signs are numerous. Piss Alley is also here, the famous Yakitori street... Smells better than the translated name... Actually, like most of Japan it is spotless.
Buildings in Tokyo at one point were all like this, the brick and mortar and steel towers came later because of the great Tokai quake that every now and again wipes everything... The ramshackle lighter built stuff is easier to survive.
Fugu tank...
Piss Alley is below, these few backstreets are filled with shrunken, narrow, mostly Yakitori type bars, with strong willed owners who fight the city to keep going. In post war Japan these type of streets were very numerous. Ridley took Shinjuku, especially Piss Alley for most of the street scenes in Blade Runner. The tiny little caves and food sellers in this always dark area of town set many of his scenes. The emergency vehicles in that film had a distinctive noise too, and the ones in Shinjuku, they sound exactly like the ones in the movie, it's eerie.... With their sirens and loud speakers...
And more Golden Town
Shinjuku...
Kabukicho, the red light part town area of Shinjuku...
I tried on a pair of jeans at a cool store Uni Qlo, it is the Japanese version of the Gap. I think my swamp feet are back, the tropics seems to do this to me now... I had to take my shoes off as is Japanese custom, not sure what others were saying, but I am sure it was something like "White devil have stink feet."
Meiji shrine.
Harajuku is noted for teens in outlandish clothes.... Like below...
Advertising takes a leap into madness here - they got paid well for this but you have idea what it signifies, so why bother!
On the Friday, I met a volunteer guide, Yuri, she was very nice, we went to a few places along the way, walking, talking, we stopped for Japanese coffee, over 6 bucks a cup, regular coffee... Then we went to a fun conveyor belt sushi place. The discovery there is these giant tamago filled nigiris... Look Shelly and Wendy, new food for us!
This new tower being constructed is Tokyo Sky Tower, it looks like a thing Godzilla would love to pull down. Anyway it is just over 634m. When complete next year and it will have an observation deck, I wonder if that makes it higher than Dubai, I think it will, as that one was only 126 stories....
This is the thunder gate in Asakusa.... Again was here before, but it always looks so nice....
Tokyo is great for just walking around, after dousing shoes, feet and everything else with hand sanitizer because of the swamp problem - people generally don't bump into you, unlike home, and there's millions more on the go on these streets. Lots to see, interesting smells from all kinds of food outlets.... And, you don't have to watch your step for anything left on the sidewalk.
No earthquakes on this trip, spent enough. It's just good to hang around and steep in Japan's aura....
The iPad 2 was announced while here. Oh how the world has changed since I left...
And with great sadness, on a much warmer Saturday, the 5th of March, I had a few hours to run around before departing for Narita airport, over an hour out of town. I had previously sent one suitcase ahead, since by now, two cases is too much for Dave to navigate walking to and walking through the worlds busiest railway station. The sun was shining, all is good in Tokyo.
Off to Los Angeles for the final quick stop. This route on Singapore airlines will be an A380 from the end of this month, so I am on one of their last flights on a 747 here. I had a pricey but awesome sushi fill up at Narita airport, spent every last penny in Yen on chocolate and we were off....
See you back in North America, the circle around the world is now almost complete!
- BlogPressed from my iPad. Click on picture for larger image and gallery.
