Alone In Tokyo Short Film

Photo taken From Shinjuku’s main street, while I was back in Japan in early 2009.

Check out this short video by Philip Bloom of Tokyo and its main drags- beautifully shot, it’s best viewed fullscreen and in HD. Wish I had the patience, equipment, and talent to produce something like that!

Return To Japan, Part Three- A Slow Return

Kyoto To Tokyo

Leaving Okayama Prefecture hungover on wednesday morning, I thought the final few days in Japan might be something of an anticlimax. They turned out to be anything but.

That day I made the 3 hour journey from Shin-Kurashiki to Kyoto, crossing the Chugoku plain on a slow train, before transferring and whizzing through Kobe and Osaka to Kyoto on a Shinkaisoku densha. Kyoto itself was a bit of a muted experience, but probably because I was hungover; the weather didn’t help either. I had a nice trip to Kiyomizudera (which Hillary Clinton was to visit the next day, following in my footsteps I presume). After chilling in cafes and getting yet another tonkatsu meal for dinner, I made the short trip from Kyoto station to Rokujizo, where I met Shoji Ishizu at “8.30 at the ticket gate”.

Those instructions have become something of a legend for Shoji and his merry band of Couchsurfers- between 150 and 200 people have passed through his utterly amazing CS House, with him picking them up and helping them sort out their sightseeing plans on an almost daily basis. I was staying with a very friendly German guy- also living in Seoul- and two Taiwanese ladies that night. The house itself reminds me of a friends house in Shin Kurashiki- an old, slightly dilapidated structure- but the walls are covered in messages from people who’ve stayed there. It’s an amazing place, and Shoji is a fantastic guy.

I got a few hours sleep before leaping into action once more, catching a subway out to the east of Kyoto early the next morning, and walking up the main road that joins onto the Meishin Expressway. I was there at around 8, but it wasn’t until 10, with my hands freezing, my head spinning and my throat sore, that I finally got a lift. In truth I was close to giving up when the most bizarre people came along to save my day. The only way I can describe them is as Funky Monks. Despite owning an imported Mercedes from Germany, speeding along the highway weaving in and out of traffic, and being bling-ed up to the true Japanese chinpilla/yakuza-esque max, driver “Ken-chan” insisted that he and his friend were both monks in Kyoto. It was such a bizarre story that it almost certainly had to be true (plus there were no tattoes). They got me as far as the edge of Shizuoka Prefecture in truly record-breaking (and probably law-breaking) time. As before, once on the expressway I had no problems at all getting further lifts along. After an initial wait of 2 hours, it took only 20 minutes to get another lift from a businessman 40 minutes down the road to Fuji service area (his memorable words of wisdom were that the world’s best combination is “British house, American salary, Japanese wife and Chinese food”, and that the worst is “Japanese house, American wife, British food and Chinese salary”- a particularly nonsensical piece of advice from a very odd man). There, I only waited five before being picked up by Hiro and lovely Kumiko, in the furniture business in Tokyo. We got on best out of all the lifts I’d been given, and the remaining time to Tokyo whizzed by. At 3ish I finally made it back- they took me to their company where I had coffee, we took some celebratory pictures and I bid farewell. I was back!!

The Funky Monks!

Kumiko and Hiro

Back in Tokyo! But what to do? I know, spend all the money I’d saved by hitch-hiking and couchsurfing on clothes! Exhausted from a long day of roadside waiting and entertaining the various people who I hitched with, I collapsed in a capsule hotel in Ebisu on my first night back. The next day I moved north to Shinjuku, back to the Ace Inn, before setting out on a shopping expedition to Harajuku, Shibuya and Shinjuku. That evening I met up with Ai Kawasaki, a friend, and her friends. We did the izakaya-karaoke thing in Shibuya till 6am, and it was lots of fun! It gave me a chance to sing Rokko Oroshi two more times, as well as a host of other Japanese songs. I met lots of great people too! All that was left was to wander, hungover and tired, around the wonderful Hibiya Park, Tokyo Station’s Maruzen, and Ginza department stores the next day. That saturday evening, struggling to stay awake, I made it to Ebisu’s Footnik to see Chelsea take on Villa in an uninspiring game. I slept very deeply that night, with no dreams but a sense of contentedness.

My last day in Tokyo was both happy and sad. I spent a good hour puzzling over how to fit so many clothes into a bag clearly too small to hold them, met a friend for lunch in Harajuku, then headed off on the various trains to get to Narita airport. On the way I indulged in a little nostlagic music playing, but however sad I was to be leaving Japan (which if it isn’t obvious I like significantly more than Korea), I was happy that I’d had such an amazing trip- one that had surpassed any expectations- had seen so many good friends and made so many new ones. The more I visit Tokyo the more it’s demystified- I don’t think anyone forgets the first time they visit Tokyo, especially if they can’t read Japanese! Yet the more I visit, the more I get to know it, the more I like it as a city with such distintive culturally separate areas, great food, exciting nightlife and plentiful parks. It’s a tip-top place, and I want to live there!

Shinjuku, toward Kabuki-cho

Shinjuku, toward Skyscraper District

Ginzaaaaa

Hibiya Park, near the Imperial Palace

The plane ride back took only two hours and ten minutes, yet being back feels like being a world away from Tokyo and Japan. Nonetheless, what a wonderful trip! Bring on the next one

First- A H&M Report

Before going into the long process of blogging up my travails, here is a brief selection of pictures from H&M! I went to both the Harajuku and Ginza stores, with the Harajuku being both better and shinier.

And I bought a jacket there! Hurrah for H&M.