Arriving at Roppongi station from Ueno, somehow, during that brief subway trip, the scene had changed completely from day to night. This meant one thing: “illuminations”. If Tokyo’s big on this, then Roppongi is surely one of its epicentres. Around Midtown the trees were adorned in fairy lights. Two paths of golden trees lit the way to 2121 Design Sight, where the late night art class trip was being held. Further away lining the road, the trees were lit a somewhat melancholy blue, in a way that made it look as if raindrops were falling down them. After looking around the design exhibition we ventured outside to catch some more of the night lights…
My Thursdays are an open void ’till half six – my late night art workshop – and it is my favourite day of the working week. There’s something nice about not having too much idle time, but also having a class to look fowardto. Right now my brain is grating against the stereotypical rote way of learning – and teaching in Japan. The rooms feel sterile, even when half filled with people; certain classes consist entirely of being talked at directly from a textbook. This is every other weekday, but not Thursday.
So yesterday I decided to try going places I hadn’t been to yet: there’s a whole half of the Yamanote line unventured!
I started my adventure at Takadanobaba, where Keio’s rival university – Waseda – is located. From what I gather, future buisnessmen and Japanese wanting to be employed within the financial sphere go to Keio; and future creative industry workers head off to Waseda.
Takadanobaba is part of 西新宿 (West Shinjuku).
I was too chicken to actually peruse the campus, though the area around Waseda was scattered with small, yummy eateries.
Not much in the mood for food (especially feeling slightly truant; crossing enemy lines) I was starting to head off back to the station when I managed to catch a bus to Ueno Park!
The journey was nigh on an hour, but there was something blissful about just sitting, watching as the sun sank, the world rolling by. I looked out of the windows the whole time – passing more places that were totally unfamiliar to me. There was Hongo San-Chome, and Chuo Dori (street names) that I remember paticularly for being vibrant, fun, new.
Only a quick jaunt through the park: it isn’t like back home where there’s greenery to sit on, just benches on concrete (mostly occupied by severely scruffy hobos or slightly less scruffy suits). This was the view looking back, as I made my way to Ueno Station, where I planned to make my way to Roppongi for our art class’ trip to 2121 Design Sight near Roppongi Midtown.
At Ueno Station I bought a small mameshiba cuddly toy (Oops! More on that later..) and hopped on the Hibiya subway line straight to Roppongi. With time to spare – arriving early is not my forte – I had another wee wander…
Not much new to report. Not yet, leastways. Went to my campus’ festival and was bombarded by takoyaki-pushing stall denizens.
Convient excuse #1: I’m vegetarian. Although sometimes this also required explaining to the Japanese person this meant I didn’t eat meat or fish. It was quite wierd that 99% of their reactions to this were a mixture of confusion and horror. Vegetarianism really doesn’t seem to go down well, or maybe it was just that this made me an awfully difficult customer to woo.
Convient (not true) excuse #2: I’m diabetic. Ahahaha, yes. Desperate measures were required to fend off the other half of the stall people, the ones trying to get you to buy ridiculously unhealthy, sugary treats.
Alas, I only brought my film camera, so no shots of the festival just yet…
In any case I have stumbled upon one of the awesomest websites on the internet:
http://jenkenskitkatblog.blogspot.com/
Courtesy of selva@flickr
Ever the source of amusement and joy for gaijin, the sheer mass of different (sometimes questionable) flavours of kit kat know no bounds. It’s comforting to see I’m not the only one obsesssed (on a part time basis) with ‘em.
Us lucky Keio-ers are now experiencing Mita-sai, a campus holidayslashfestival, which breaks up the term quite nicely if I say so m’self. Out of an array of activities on my to-do list, one was to visit the intimidating neighbourhood of Ginza. Famed for famous labels and its streets flooded with fashionistas, my more alternative Harajuku sense of personal style was somewhat at odds with every other nihonjin. But the beauty of being firstly amongst a group of friends, and secondly gaijin no matter which way you look about it, that desperate need to not stick out is futile, and is wonderfully freeing once you let go.
We left just as the sun was setting; and it does that pretty early on here. Even before the start of winter (and my god it’s gotten miserable – one news report said something like it was the coldest November day in 17 years…). I kinda like it though. Tht night owl in me, y’see. There’s something more magic about nighttime. Especially in Ginza where the roads stretching wide are lined with trees all a-glitter, and the street signs lined with fairy lights, and the behemoth designer buildings look like giant, bizarre snow globes – all glass and changing colours. Louis Vuitton was some kind of trippy, monogrammed rainbow; looking over at Chanel a super-sized Lily Allen peeps back over shades. On a side note, not liking the new Chanel ads at all. That said, freaking loved the RTW Spring 2010 show.
I dragged them all to this Okinawan food store/touristy place/general purveyor of crazy yet overpriced items, that I have fallen in love with. The ground floor (see that, Japan? Ground floor. Because it’s a floor at ground level!) is stocked with foods, some of which I imagine do not in fact originate from islands lying south of honshu…
You know you want to buy it. I mean, it’s crazy tasty and everything!
They eat some wierd things in Okinawa…
Speaking of, the basement level of the store provides for the alcoholics and music addicts alike: to the right there is a small aisle bursting with brightly coloured bottles of this-and-that, hidden under the stairs you can preview Okinawa-related albums via old style HMV-esque headphones + cd players. One is shaped like a pineapple. This clearly enchances the listening experience, biensur. Beside the music are, inevitabley, the books. Guides and so on. In the far left corner one can purchase a variety of tourist-y items including shisa (Okinawan lions that come in pairs at the entrance of temples, kind of like guardians), musical instruments, shirts…you get the picture.
Now, at first everything is normal. I’m listening to Ska meets Okinawa cover of J-pop songs (yeah) from a giant pineapple. Then I wander over to see what the guys are so infatuated about over by the booze…
"Habu" eh? Now what could that possibly be?
Well.
It was a dead snake.
A dead, super poisonous snake. In the booze.
WHAT.
I mean, when did somebody come up with the idea “oh let’s go put a whole dead snake in some alcohol” and who told them it sounded good? Oh it was so gross, though! I’m gonna have nightmares for weeks! Its eyes were totally white, and was coiled up with its mouth open in a slightly pissed (no pun intended) manner I imagine most snakes would be when they are about to be pickled in sake or somesuch. Mmm-mmm-mmm…
Moving (swiftly) on, the rest of Ginza was sparkly and gorgeous, although my camera died on our tour around, hence lake of photo love. I did manage to get some shots of the entrance to Ginza’s own Tokyu Hands (another huuuuge Japanese department/chain store. Sells a whole variety of things. Really.) called “Ginza Hands”. Of course, being Ginza, there was none of the bizzare/perchance “crass” items sold in Shibuya or Shinjuku’s Tokyu Hands. Oh nonono. And everything was mysteriously a tad more pricey too, funny that.
Anyway I managed to get my hands on this gorgeous wee camera: the instax mini 7S. It’s somewhat polaroid-y: photos emerge from the top of it right after you take a shot. So looking foward to using it!! Also purchased a smaller toy camera, which I actually had back home but is infinately cheaper to buy here (as is the film). There was other stuff to – I could not resist at the Okinawan place, so I will update in a bit properly on my purchases…
Went to Tokyo Tower last week with some dormies. It’s surprising we only just got round to it; the Eiffel lookaike isn’t that far from Keio’s Mita Campus at all. Unfortunately I had to catch up with the guys and missed that “twilight” time – when the lights of the city are turned on, and the sun is only just setting. Apparently this is a great time to take fabulous shots from the tower, before it gets too dark and unless you have invested in some serious kit, ordinary lenses can’t really go far.
Tokyo Tower has two observation decks—the Main Observatory and the Special Observatory; both offer a 360 degree view of Tokyo and, on clear days, Mount Fuji can be seen to the south.[9] The two-floor Main Observatory, located at 145 m, provides visitors with a view of Tokyo and houses several attractions. The first floor is home to a small café and Club 333, a small stage that is used to put on live music shows.[26] Also located on this floor are two “look down windows” that allow visitors to stand over a small clear window and look to the ground 145 m below. The second floor (at 150 m) houses a small souvenir shop and a Shinto shrine, the highest shrine in the special wards of Tokyo. The elevators leading to the Special Observatory are also located on this floor. Departing on these elevators, visitors can reach the Special Observatory. a small, circular, completely enclosed observatory located at 250 m
Was bored one day and thus ventured out, on my own, to Shibuya, freshly bought billingual map of Tokyo in hand, to test my directional skills. And maybe do a spot of shopping, too.
When I arrived in Shibuya, immediately exiting from Hachiko Exit, I was faced with a huge crowd. They were forming some kind of cult circle around something, so, doing what most folks woud do, I decided to have a nose. See what was so cool.
Alas, being the midget in a crowd makes taking good snaps somewhat of a challenge…
There must have been some kind of music appreciation ‘do going on down, because after the marching band marched up and away, it was only a couple of minutes until I ran into another band scene!
The banner reads "Shibuya Music Festival". Which expains a lot.
Then there were these guys set up outside of Shibuya 109 (massive, massive department store. Random fact: Japanese department stores do half floors. There’s that much demand for space, there are such things as say, a floor between 2nd and 3rd. Oh, and they use the American system here. Which translates as no ground floor – sacrilige!).
It was a mostly guy band, fronted by this tiny Japanese girl singing her heart out (no really, this girl was practically yelling) to some kind of jazz/Rn’B fusion. I rather liked it, slightly dodgy vocals aside…
The Girl’s gone and made another blog!
But don’t worry. This one’s all about the photos. No words, just pictures from daily life in Tokyo that to me, stand out. There may also be shots not included in posts here, if not already. So yeah, go check it out!
Being 文化の日 (“Bunka no Hi”, lit., Culture Day), a holiday in Japan, yesterday some of the dormies and myself went out to find the local zoo. Wanted to do more on my only real day off of the week, but I was still suffering severe lack of yen. Incidentally, Shin-Kawasaki Zoo is both nearby AND free, hidden away up this sloping path I’d never noticed before. It’s only a small place, but lovely nonetheless. There was a small temple too, and a park where all the families were picnic’ing and playing frisbee.
Stumbled across this a couple of days ago. It’s kind of my go-to cheer up tune.
