Tokyo

Everything you’ve thought about Tokyo is true. The urban sprawl of mile after mile of shopping, restaurants and cramped high rise living. Every street screaming at you in floor to roof-top bright lights and promises of a good time. You get used to the little jingles played by the traffic lights as you cross the road, or every train station when a train arrives.

Japan has blended the old and the new ways of living in a way that I’ve seen in no other country. If you by an expensive state of the art gadget from a shop in Ginza, the sales assistant will show you to the door and bow deeply to your back as you depart in the old fashioned way. This respect is built into everyone, making them extremely helpful and friendly, going out of their way to make sure that you are ok. That’s not to say that they don’t have their fair share of pushing and shoving as in any other Asian country with such a large population, but its an unwritten rule that in ignorance you can push all you want, but acknowledgment demands respect and consideration. This huge population seems to be all out shopping and commuting to work at the same time at the busiest intersection in the world in Shubiya. You really have to see it for yourself, though preferably from the high vantage point in Shibuya station than in amongst it. Shubiya is also full of ‘Love Hotels’ where couples can discretely come and go for a ‘rest’ or ‘stay’ in any number of fantasy theme rooms, enjoying such pleasures as karaoke from your hot-tub among other things.

North of Shibuya is Shinjuku, a major transport hub surrounded by the usual shopping malls and restaurants, but also home to Tokyo’s red light district Kabukicho. To the international visitor it’s nothing more than Pachinko Parlours (think vertical pinball) and yet more restaurants. The signage, singing and flashing lights is multiplied 10 fold, while the din from the Pachinko Parlours is enough to drive anyone insane. To the Japanese salarymen out there for a good time there are such pastimes as touching up girls on a mock train carriage full of people and hostess bars full of girls just waiting to meet them. All that said, we stayed right in the heart of it for three nights in an manga cafe with no ill effects.

Further north still is Harajuku where middle class Japanese teenagers shop for extreme fashion and accessories. Their parent’s are on the next street buying Laura Ashley home-wears, while their grandparents may be strolling under the beautiful cypress torii gate of Meiji-jingu shrine nearby.

Tokyo is all about youth culture and its easy to feel old here even at 30, hell you’d feel old here even at 20! The innumerable Pachinko Parlours and other psychedelic distractions make the whole place feel like one massive amusement arcade. Its fun for a bit but after a while (about 10 mins) you need to get on a train and get away for the sake of your sanity.

All the cities of Japan have little Tokyos in their centres but its usually just one area thats easy to avoid if the bright lights and constant noise is not to your liking. Unfortunately for us in our efforts to do things on the cheap we had to seek them all out. For they are the home to another of Japan’s quirky inventions – the 24 hour manga cafe which double up as a very cheap place to crash.

In a later post we’ll tell you all about them…