Tokyo! (part 1)

My first view of Tokyo was from the air. Haneda airport is located on a piece of land jutting out into Tokyo Bay. From here you can see the city fan out - a sea of grey dwarfing the blue of the bay. Its a pretty spectacular sight- a completely manmade environment stretching as far as the eye can see.

At Haneda, I was meeting Anna, who I first met at a party on my last weekend in Glasgow, and who just happened to be coming out to Japan with Nova a month after me. This was our first meeting in Japan as she is placed in the South island of Kyushu so we were both pretty excited to be in Tokyo. I had arranged to meet both Rachel and Yoshi in Shibuya. We were to come out of Shibuya Station from the Hachiko exit, which faces onto Hachiko Square (our meeting point), and just beyond that Sentaa Gai, which is reported to be the world's busiest junction- you may recognise it from the movie Lost in Translation. I couldn't think of a much better location as my introduction to Tokyo...

This photo was taken from the walkway connecting the two parts of Shibuya station. Starbucks have grabbed prime location here. The first 2 floors of the Q Mark building are occupied by the busiest Starbucks in the world, right on the corner of the busiest crossing in the world. Just out of frame on the left is a Nova sign and it would soon become clear that both Starbucks and Nova are everywhere in this city.

Ueno and Akihabara

On our 2nd night, Rach took me and Anna to the Black Sheep - the bar she used to work in. There we met Mogi - a bonafide Japanese Irishman with a "tick" Cork accent. The next day he agreed to take us on a sightseeing tour. We were now joined by Bree, Anna's Aussie flatmate in Nobeoka. She had heard about Tokyo's maid cafe phenomenon, and wanted to check one out, so Mogi gallantly pledged to help us search one out (more on this later).

The first stop was Ueno. We started with a walk through the park, home to the largest concemtration of museums and parks anywhere in Japan, as well as a zoo, and one of Tokyo's most popular spots for hanami (cherry blossom viewing). We walked along avenues lined with bare cherry blossom trees and I could only imagine what it would look like alive with pink blossoms and groups of salarimen camped out on sheets spread on the ground below ( a junior employee having been sent to stake out a good spot hours beforehand), drinking and composing haiku.

Due to the time of year most af the park's attractions were closed, however the nearby market was absolutely heaving.

Ueno Market Gaijin Spot Challenge! You have 3 seconds to find Anna....ready? Go!

One.....ok, well done!

The Jolly Octopus guy!

Akihabara is best known as Tokyo's 'Electric Town'. It's one of the largest shopping areas in the world for electronic goods. However in recent years it has also become renowned as a centre of 'Otaku' culture. The term roughly translates as 'obsessive' or 'geek' with the main interests of Akihabara otaku being gaming and anime. I got the chance to witness these guys (it's definitely a predominantly male thing) first hand when we dropped into a Segaworld. While the other's used the toilet, I waited on the 3rd floor (of 5) among rows of consoles loaded with a combat game featurng female anime characters (a perfect Otaku combination) the guys sat in silence in front of their console pressing buttons and moving the joystick while scantily clad, long legged anime girls drop kicked each other, ashtrays by their sides filling up and other otaku (all solitary guys) watching on, arms folded, as Mogi walks by shaking his head and muttering under his breath (in the "tick" Cork accent remember) - "Geeks, geeks, fecking geeks". At the top of the stairs leading up to this level, is a noticeboard where some of the otaku have even posted illustrations of their favourite character. I got the feeling they spend a lot of time here.

The Maid cafe (マイド）phenomenon has been around for a good few years although I had never heard of it before this trip. At these places, waitresses are dressed in Victorian style, frilly maid costumes, based on manga/anime stlye. The concept behind it is the customer is the master in their own home from home, so customers will be greeted with "Welcome Home Master/Lady". Maid's use the most respectful forms of language and may even kneel down in front of the customer to stir sugar into their coffee etc. There are apparantly many maid cafes scattered across the area so we were a bit surprised when we had so much trouble finding one. Armed with a map from a local electroics shop we headed for "@Home". It occupies 4 floors (Maid style, Maid massage, Traditional Japanese style, and the @Home Lobby, which the lift automaticaly stops at for check-in. We emerged in a lrge open plan space with reception desk, waiting lounge, and merchandise. Mogi waited in line for the reception to discover that there was an hour and a half wait for a table at the Maid Cafe, and an hour for Traditional Japanese stlye. We decided not to wait but before leaving checked out some of the merchandise (including tinned 'マイド' chocolate bread and canned cocoa) and the portrait snaps of the 'Maids' in costume lining the walls. We carried on the search and found two closed cafes followed by soem very downmarket, drab and downright uninspiring offerings before finaly coming to a backstreet building with 3 floors - a cafe on each. We had a look through the doors of the first 2 without seeing anything interesting, and on the 3rd floor, "I ♥ MAID" had a queue stretching down the stairs. By this time I think we were all a bit 'Maided Out' so decided to call it a day, but an interesting foray into one of Tokyo's more quirky subcultures nonetheless.

Roppongi Hills

That evening we were all a bit worn out, so me and Rach decided to go to the cinema. We ended up missing the showing so went to Roppongi Hills instead. The development was opened in 2003 and is uber modern, with leisure and retail facilities, cinema and office space. The Mori Tower also houses the Tokyo View, on the 53rd floor. After having a walk around we went up and were absolutely blown away to see Tokyo night view spread out below.

Roppongi is renowned for its high concentration of foreign residents and tourists and the 'gaijin bars' that service them. We gave the foreigner bars a miss but did take advantage of the foreign cuisine on offer, and ate at a Mexican restaurant/tequilla bar that Rachel had reviewed for her magazine.

Asakusa

Next day, met up with Anna and Bree again. They had got up super early to go to the fish market. I decided to take it easy and meet up with them later in Asakusa. Asakusa used to house Old Tokyo's pleasure quarters, the 'floating world'. These days it draws tourists looking for a taste of Old Tokyo and devotees flocking to the sensoji buddhist temple which is dedicated to the deity 'Kannon'. On stepping out of the train station, I was struck by the virtual absence of high rise and neon. The area has been largely neglected by big business and is a refreshing break. the streets surrounding the sensoji are narrow and lined with stalls and shops selling a variety of traditional snacks and souveniers, and hand pulled rickshaws for hire. The area was bustling with people buying fortunes, praying and sughtseeing...

Me at the approach to the sensoji



The smoke billowing out from the incense burning inside is believed to have curative powers. People crowd around, wafting the smoke in their direction for luck and good health.

The main entrance to the temple with the its famous giant red lantern.
Inside people throw handfuls of coins into the slots of the offering box beyond then clap twice to close the deal.


A view taken from the steps of the main temple.

The grounds surrounding the sensoji contain ornamental gardens, some small shrines, and a 5 towered pagoda.
















Nabe and Karaoke in Ikebukara

That evening, we were all invited to dinner with a bunch of regulars from the Black Sheep. Our host for the evening took us to a nabe restaurant, which I was very pleased about as I had been wanting to try it for ages, and its soemthing you really need a group for. Basically you can choose between soya or miso based soup and the rest of the infredients are added to this. The ingredients are brought out raw to the table and are cooked in front of you. Once its ready you just serve yourself with the bowls and ladels provided. This is a popular meal for people to prepare at home when they have friends round.


After dinner we all went to karaoke nearby where I debuted my first performance in Japanese...

We ended the evening in yet another restaurant for late night snacks and sake before being treated to a taxi ride through the streets of Tokyo back to Shibuya.