THE STORY

A first taste

The rush hour and the Edo Museum

The Metropolitan Government Offices

Covered shops in Asakusa

Tokyo by night

Ueno

Reflections

Catriona and I had booked into the Park Hotel to the south of the city centre – close to Shiba Park and the Tokyo Tower.  Walking in Tokyo was necessarily interspersed with trips on the train or metro.  We had picked a hotel close to Hamamatsu Cho Station on the Japan Railways Yamanote Line which curls through and around the city centre linking many of the places worth visiting.  This meant I could use my JR Railpass for much of the travelling, but at other times had to buy a metro ticket.  The train and underground network is made up of a number of lines, and frequently it is necessary to leave a JR station to go to a neighbouring metro station for a particular journey.  Tokyo has its version of the Underground map, with the different coloured lines spreading out from the centre dominated by the Imperial Palace.

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A first taste

Arriving at our hotel after a flight from Sapporo, we decided to go out and find something to eat.  We walked through the narrow streets south of the hotel, sandwiched between busier main streets, and looked at a number of restaurants.  We found a distinctive little one where we sat at the bar downstairs and talked to the waitress from China whilst the cook got on with his work behind her (see the photo).  We had a couple of courses each – chicken curry, Korean pork, bacon and artichoke, salad, and a beer or two.  It was all very pleasant and on a human scale. 

Then we walked along a winding avenue through the Shiba Park, uphill towards the lights of the Tokyo Tower, but we were too late (9.30 p.m.) to go up.  It looked spectacular with red floodlighting (see photo on summary page).  So we walked back to the hotel, picking up some yoghurt, juice and pastries for breakfast from the 24-hour convenience store across the road.

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The rush hour and the Edo Museum

With the well-known image in our mind of people being squeezed into metro carriages by stewards wearing white gloves, we headed for the Hamamutso Cho station at 8.30 a.m.  There were plenty of people waiting to cross the main road towards the station, and when the lights changed a tidal wave of humanity moved forward.  We moved with the flow, past Tokyo’s World Trade Centre, to the station.  However, although it was pretty busy, and there were indeed men in uniforms and white gloves to manage the flow of people, this station certainly wasn’t struggling to cope with the numbers.  There were plenty of people having to stand on the trains, but it was less crammed than many I have experienced in the London Underground.  We saw a couple of other trains passing ours that looked full, but no-one had their face squeezed against the glass!

We were heading for the Edo Tokyo Museum north of the city centre then east just across the Sumidagawa River, and it looked like a short walk from the Akhabara Station.  The street wasn’t too busy, and as in Kyoto there were people of all ages cycling casually along the pavements.  Young trees lines the street, along with decorative lamps.  Up on a building to the right a familiar face caught our attention – a poster with an unshaven David Beckham advertising what looked like a little wooden car!  We had already seen him on the trains, advertising Vodafone.

The walk was longer than we expected, and we began to think we had gone the wrong way.  Catriona asked directions from a woman, then a man.  He was going there too, and was happy to show us the way.

The Edo Tokyo Museum building was immediately impressive – a massive square block overhanging a paved area at the top of a flight of steps.  In this covered area were some displays of archaeological finds from the river banks nearby.  We bought tickets then rode up in a covered escalator to the 6th floor.  The museum was on two floors, dominated by a replica of the Nihonbashi wooden bridge spanning the void above the lower level, and a long series of displays illustrating the history, culture, economy and society of the city when it was called “Edo”, before the imperial period and the renaming of the city as Tokyo in 1868.  The displays went beyond that, through the troubled times of the 20th century including the great earthquake of 1923 and the bombing during the 2nd world war, and there was plenty of information in English.  It was a highly effective way of finding out more about a city which we had only really known in terms of its present role and status.  During the Edo period Japan had been closed off from the rest of the world, helping to explain the uniqueness of its culture even today.  Neverthless, we skipped some of the displays to avoid being there all day!

We went to the next floor up for an early lunch, and a panoramic view across the city to the west – an endless vista of grey buildings under a grey sky.  The restaurant had a particularly impressive display of plastic food at the entrance, illustrating the different dishes available.  Somewhere there must be a factory (probably several) making plastic meals to order.  How did they do it?  Did all the items look the same whichever restaurant you went to, or did the factory vary the design based on photos of the real thing?

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The Metropolitan Government Offices

This may not sound like a tourist destination, but we made our way there for the view from the 45th floor.  First we had to find our way across the city from Ryogoku station, and got a bit mixed up with the new Keio line.  At one point Catriona caught a train and the doors closed before I could get onto it.  I saw her looking out of the window as the train disappeared!  We hadn’t planned for this.  We were in the middle of Tokyo along with millions of other people and had lost contact.  I caught the next train and got off at the next station – fortunately Catriona was there waiting.

Eventually we reached Hatsudai station where we wanted to visit the exhibition at the NTT International Communications Centre – we thought this would give us an insight into the next generation of communications technology.  Instead, we were surprised to find a collection of sound installations which attempted to present sound as art.  It was all a bit baffling, but still memorable!  The building itself, with its long escalator leading up past hanging decorations, and large square rooms of polished brown stone, was more impressive.  

Outside again, we worked out a route along aerial walkways over a busy road, through another building, and down to street level, heading towards the distinctive twin towers of the Metropolitan Government Offices.  As we got closer and rounded a corner, it was like entering a futuristic canyon of concrete and glass mega towers.  We looked up and felt dizzy.

Inside the North Tower we found the lift which whisked us smoothly up to the 45th floor, with no stops on the way.  We emerged into an open area with a café at the centre and large windows all around, providing a complete panorama.  Below us, in front of us, the blocks spread out as far as the eye could see.  As in the view from the museum, it was mostly shades of grey, but the buildings were pretty impressive nevertheless.  I noticed that most of the tall buildings were lower than us.  Below them were smaller tower blocks.  Then there were big apartment buildings.  And then there were still some streets of smaller buildings just two or three stories high.  In between were the streets and here and there a splash of green parkland to break up the greyness.  It was a strange vertical layering of urban architecture.

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Covered shops in Asakusa

Later we went east again by train to Asakusa, to a covered street of shops, to look for a few presents.  This was an interesting little walk along a brightly lit pedestrian street, with a number of ladies walking past in their traditional kimonos, and a series of colourful displays of food and gifts.  We bought a selection of chopsticks, some distinctive bookmarks, and fridge magnets portraying Mount Fuji!  At the end of street was a temple like many we had seen already in Kyoto and Nikko, but this was set in the heart of the city.  We sat there a while, watching the world go by.  Then we turned back down the covered street and bought a snack made of sweet potatoes to sustain us.

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Tokyo by night

We had arranged to meet a friend of Catriona’s at Shinjuku station, to go for a meal, but first we wanted to see the neon-lit shopping streets to the east of the station.  Here again was David Beckham, on a massive video screen overlooking the crowds walking below.  We turned into Yasukuni-dori and gazed along at the succession of flashing vertical signs.  We just wandered down one side of the street, then back along the other, but could easily have spent time in any of the department stores and smaller specialist shops.  It was another of those jaw-dropping spectacles, in the busiest commercial area of the city.

Then we had to meet up with Catriona’s friend Miyumi.  We had said which exit gate we would meet her at, and went there.  However, Shinjuku is one of the busiest stations in the world, and combines the stations from a number of rail and metro lines.  We stood and waited.  Then we checked other possible exits.  Catriona had a mobile phone and called Miyumi.  She was there somewhere, but till we couldn’t find her.  And then we did – she was just the other side of the exit!  It was another lesson in how easy it is to loose people in such a busy city. 

There was a little rain in the air as we walked west through the streets to the Shinjuku NS building – one of the enormous towers near the Metropolitan offices.  Inside we were amazed to be inside one enormous box – with an atrium stretching right up to the top, with a bridge across it.  The floor was dominated by a tall pendulum clock – reputedly the largest in the world.  We zoomed up to the 30th floor which seemed to be entirely made up of a series of restaurants ranging from traditional Japanese to bistro style and European cuisine.  We picked a lively Japanese bistro and found seats next to the window, with another dramatic view of the city lit up at night.

We had a different culinary experience the following evening, after returning from a day out to Kamakura.  Miyumi had recommended an area of the city where we would be able to find okonomiyaki restaurants.  This was at Tsukishima, on an island in the port area, not far from where we were staying.  We walked from the station, round a couple of corners, and there was a long street of low buildings, most of which seemed to be restaurants, and most had queues of people outside waiting for a table.  All of the restaurants seemed to be advertising okonomiyaki – essentially a meal made up of various ingredients and sauces which the customers should cook themselves on a hotplate in the middle of the table.  It looked like we would have to join a long queue, or go elsewhere.  However we turned into a parallel street where there were fewer restaurants, but found one where we could get a table.  Although it didn’t look quite as authentic a building, the food and service were fine.  The waiter gave us a hand when required, but Catriona did most of the cooking and it was delicious.  We headed back to the station the way we had come, and the streets were quieter.  Now it was noticeable how many bikes were parked outside the row of restaurants.  Despite the superb trains, many people still get around the place on a push-bike.

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Ueno

I had spent a couple of hours in Tokyo at the start of the holiday, on route from Kyoto to Sapporo.  The sleeper train for Sapporo went from Ueno station, in the north of the city, and it took me quite a while to find my way there through a number of stations.  Fortunately most had an information desk with someone who spoke some English, and I wasn’t short of time.  Ueno station hall was decked out in colourful displays with stalls selling gifts, and many other permanent upmarket shops contained in the building.  LIke other stations, there were plenty of large lockers so that I could store my rucksack away safely for a couple of hours.

After a straightforward pizza meal in a station restaurant, I had some time left to explore the streets.  I headed out and down the steps to the roadside.  There seemed to be hundreds of people waiting for the lights, then we all surged across.  On the other side was a narrower shopping street, and this led down to an area of market stalls.  With different faces, it could almost have been a street market in Paris or Greece, but this had a little more in the way of bright decorations. 

I turned right and right again, catching my first sight of plastic replica meals in the window of a restaurant.  I arrived back at a busy street, crossed it, and found myself approaching a park.  A large flat green area turned out to be a pond, absolutely full of vegetation.  Very strange!  Away to the left were some equally strange-looking apartment buildings, like random stacks of children’s building blocks.  I walked round the edge of the pond, then back out to the street, past a pachinko parlour (pinball and gaming arcade) with men in suits entering and leaving, and began to wonder where the station was.  My time was getting short, and although I was walking under a train line there were plenty of those around!  Eventually I found an entrance and went past a series of upmarket shops, finally to reach the station hall once again. 

Suddenly I had a panic, as I couldn't find my locker key and realised I must have dropped it somewhere in the crowded shopping streets. I only had half an hour before the train was due to leave. There was a queue in the ticket office and when it was my turn the man phoned for someone to help me. He turned up with a load of keys, but couldn't speak any English. Another man was summoned, and we went over to my locker. They phoned a woman who spoke English and I negotiated with her, she spoke with the man with the keys, and eventually they opened the locker. They checked the contents were as I had described, I paid a small fine, and dashed off with about 3 minutes to spare to get my train as the two men had a bit of a laugh behind me.  Phew!

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Reflections

With its lofty towers, impressive transport infrastructure and buildings stretching to the horizon Tokyo is an awesome city, and could seem overpowering.  However down at street level, human scale is maintained even though it is densely packed.  Living space doesn’t seem to be dehumanised and alienating.  There is an enormous volume of people at rush hours in stations and at road crossings, but courtesy seems to be maintained.  There’s a great intensity of train movements at different speeds, moving hundreds of thousands of people round at any one time, and it seems to cope.  It’s efficient and reliable, and people seem comfortable with it.  The society and the economy couldn’t function otherwise - it would grind to a halt.

The shopping streets hidden from lofty viewpoints are spaces for social and commercial interaction.  There are many narrower, quieter streets, with little shops and restaurants.  So many of these spaces are brightly decorated, softening the surroundings at street level, and there didn't seem to be any signs of vandalism or graffiti. The temples and green parks provide tranquillity even in the bustle of the city centre. People seem to respect each other and their shared living space.  There is a sense of order, of social cohesion rather than the individualism that has taken hold in the west.  

Contributed by: Andrew Llanwarne

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