Chapter 2
Day 2
Tokyo From Asakusa to Shiodome
In the evening or our first day in Japan, when we were still sitting in the Kaiten Sushi, sipping our nice Sakè, we planned the explorations of the next day. One of the attraction would be the Tsukiji Fish Market, but this would imply that we should get up at sunrise or even earlier. So, thanks to the Sakè which helped us to appraise that we had just the right amount of “Jet Lag” to sleep, perhaps even badly, only few hours, it looked like this would be the perfect chance to visit that place.
Exactly as predicted we had no problems on waking up so early. Outside of our window on Asakusa, the sky was starting to brighten, announcing a ruby sunrise. Yes, it was unbelievable how dark it was and how the sky was becoming of such an intense shade of red. We hurried on getting dressed and we went fast to take the metro at the Asakusa Station. With one of the first trains of the Ginza Line we arrived at the Shimbashi station. So far so good. We just had to reach the Shiodome area for the Fish Market. Quite easy. But the Japanese guys had still to enter in the game.
Following the directions from the maps, the way to the Fish Market would look simple, but then it turned into madness. Once we got out of the station, we started to following the direction that looked more logic, but then we thought that we might be following the wrong direction and we decided to ask for help. The first person that stopped at our call was a Japanese Old Man. He looked like understanding English and I asked him the direction to the Tsukiji Fish Market showing him the place on my map, which had the name written in Japanese too. He looked at the map and emitted a sound, it was like a hoarse version of “Ohhhhh!”. Then, he looked around and with a gesture half way from a Manga cartoon and Karate, he first pointed with his right hand forward saying a severe sound of “Straight!”, and then, opening is left harm he said “Left!”, with the same tone. Ok, if a native said so, it should be right, what could be wrong? We trusted him and we followed his directions. We kept on walking, walking and walking, and in the end we found ourselves in front of the Ginza metro station. Exactly in the opposite direction of the Fish Market. So, we made all the way back, but, thanks to some landmarks that we spotted, like a crossroad and a bridge, we managed to reach the Fish Market by ourselves.
Exactly as predicted we had no problems on waking up so early. Outside of our window on Asakusa, the sky was starting to brighten, announcing a ruby sunrise. Yes, it was unbelievable how dark it was and how the sky was becoming of such an intense shade of red. We hurried on getting dressed and we went fast to take the metro at the Asakusa Station. With one of the first trains of the Ginza Line we arrived at the Shimbashi station. So far so good. We just had to reach the Shiodome area for the Fish Market. Quite easy. But the Japanese guys had still to enter in the game.
Following the directions from the maps, the way to the Fish Market would look simple, but then it turned into madness. Once we got out of the station, we started to following the direction that looked more logic, but then we thought that we might be following the wrong direction and we decided to ask for help. The first person that stopped at our call was a Japanese Old Man. He looked like understanding English and I asked him the direction to the Tsukiji Fish Market showing him the place on my map, which had the name written in Japanese too. He looked at the map and emitted a sound, it was like a hoarse version of “Ohhhhh!”. Then, he looked around and with a gesture half way from a Manga cartoon and Karate, he first pointed with his right hand forward saying a severe sound of “Straight!”, and then, opening is left harm he said “Left!”, with the same tone. Ok, if a native said so, it should be right, what could be wrong? We trusted him and we followed his directions. We kept on walking, walking and walking, and in the end we found ourselves in front of the Ginza metro station. Exactly in the opposite direction of the Fish Market. So, we made all the way back, but, thanks to some landmarks that we spotted, like a crossroad and a bridge, we managed to reach the Fish Market by ourselves.
Tsukiji Fish Market and Namiyoke Temple
The Fish Market is huge for real. I’ve been in the fish market of my city before, but I couldn’t imagine something like this. I think that somebody that doesn’t know the different kinds of fish, or can’t cook, or isn’t into the mass catering, or all these things together, can’t appreciate this market. It’s awesome. It’s not just a matter of “fish in good display to be sold at the passers-by”, but it’s the core of the Tokyo catering system. This market isn’t made for tourists, but for restaurants owners and chefs coming to buy the ingredients for their masterpieces. So, being there, you shouldn’t expect to be in a place where everything is made to entertain the tourist, here you’ll find hard working people and we, the tourists, are quite a problem there. I appreciated the perfect and frenetic organization, that looks like it all was masterminded by a super Fish-Market-Deity. And perhaps, seen that the Shinto Religion has Deities for everything, here there was one too for real. The sellers were smiling to us, while those electric carts were running like bullets down the alleys and between the stalls.
We wandered among the stall, glancing at each one of them, staring at those huge mussels and shells, weird fish and more common ones. And then, there was him, the King of the market, the superstar of any Sushi Restaurant, His Majesty the Tuna! Here many Tunas were kept cleaned and frozen, looking like huge torpedoes waiting to be loaded on a submarine for the Pacific War. Crimson slices of first class Tuna along with lower quality ones, at lower price, were all in great display waiting for customers to buy them. We checked them out and pictured some of them, and then we met a nice old seller from which we bought some seashell. He didn’t understand a single word of what we were saying, but he enjoyed making Lula to play with a gigantic octopus. Then, seen that we were soaked in sweat, he presented us a bag full of ice. Many Japanese people were so nice! Here, between some stalls, I took out my knife and I opened the shells and we ate them for breakfast. It was six in the morning and we were eating raw clams. What we wished in more? Already this was worth the early getting up.
When we got out of the market we had a stroll in the nearby roads. Here we found many small shops selling all the things that could be useful in the restaurants. The more interesting shops, for me, were the chopsticks ones as I never seen one before.
We wandered among the stall, glancing at each one of them, staring at those huge mussels and shells, weird fish and more common ones. And then, there was him, the King of the market, the superstar of any Sushi Restaurant, His Majesty the Tuna! Here many Tunas were kept cleaned and frozen, looking like huge torpedoes waiting to be loaded on a submarine for the Pacific War. Crimson slices of first class Tuna along with lower quality ones, at lower price, were all in great display waiting for customers to buy them. We checked them out and pictured some of them, and then we met a nice old seller from which we bought some seashell. He didn’t understand a single word of what we were saying, but he enjoyed making Lula to play with a gigantic octopus. Then, seen that we were soaked in sweat, he presented us a bag full of ice. Many Japanese people were so nice! Here, between some stalls, I took out my knife and I opened the shells and we ate them for breakfast. It was six in the morning and we were eating raw clams. What we wished in more? Already this was worth the early getting up.
When we got out of the market we had a stroll in the nearby roads. Here we found many small shops selling all the things that could be useful in the restaurants. The more interesting shops, for me, were the chopsticks ones as I never seen one before.
Chopsticks Do and Don’t
DO
|
Near the Fish Market there is the Namiyoke temple and we decided to visit this place. We entered the temple ground. First thing, we followed the Japanese custom of the purification. To do so, you’ve to go at the Temple fountain and wash your hands using the provided bamboo ladle. After this, we visited the temple and here we found a beautiful shrine with a huge Lion Head statue inside. Many people were praying in front of this statue, so I guess that it should be very important.
We came back to the streets and sat for a short while on a bench in the shadows of a huge tree. Here we had our second breakfast with the remaining clams. This was our first real day in Tokyo and it felt like a perfect way to start this journey. By the way, we had this kind of breakfast as we had all the vaccinations from our previous trips, otherwise, we wouldn’t dare eating those clams.
We came back to the streets and sat for a short while on a bench in the shadows of a huge tree. Here we had our second breakfast with the remaining clams. This was our first real day in Tokyo and it felt like a perfect way to start this journey. By the way, we had this kind of breakfast as we had all the vaccinations from our previous trips, otherwise, we wouldn’t dare eating those clams.
Ginza, the land of the Kabuki Theatre and Godzilla
From Shimbashi went back to Ginza. First we followed the Shin-Obashi Dori (Shin-Obashi Road) and then, at the crossing with Harumi Dori, we turned left and straight up this street. Lula asked me if I was understanding something from that map that had mixed English indications and Japanese fonts. I replied, lying, “Sure… We have to go, first straight and then to the left!”, but when Lula heard me saying the same words of the Old Japanese Man, she looked quite perplexed.
Japanese Addressing System
Japanese addresses begin with the largest division of the country, the prefecture. These are generally called ken (県), but there are also three other special prefecture types: to (都) for Tokyo, dō (道) for Hokkaidō and fu (府) for the two urban prefectures of Osaka and Kyoto. Following the prefecture is the municipality. For a large municipality this is the city (shi, 市). Tokyo has both ordinary cities and special wards (ku, 区), each of which has the status of a city. For smaller municipalities, the address includes the district (gun, 郡) followed by the town (chō or machi, 町) or village (mura or son, 村). The next element of the address is the location within the municipality. Many cities have wards (ku, 区), which in turn may be divided into machi or chō (町). Towns may have smaller parts with names like chō, ōaza (大字), or aza (字), or even smaller koaza (小字). The final three elements of the address in Jūkyo hyōji (住居表示) style are the city district (chōme 丁目), the city block (ban 番) and finally the house number (gō 号). Chōme and ban numbers are usually assigned by order of proximity to the center of the municipality. Gō numbers are usually assigned by clockwise order around the ban city block. The final three elements of the address in Chiban (地番) style are the city district (chōme 丁目), the land number (banchi 番地) and finally the land number extension. The land number and land number extension designate a piece of land registered in the land registry. A land number extension is assigned when a piece of land is divided into two or more pieces in the registry. As these are all numbers, they are usually simply written as a string, 1-2-3, starting with the chōme and ending in the gō. In urban apartment buildings it is not unusual to add the apartment number as a fourth element. This three-element system is relatively new introduction, and is not completed in some areas such as older area of the cities or sparsely populated rural areas, where only the banchi is written after machi or aza. For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_addressing_system |
We kept our way up Harumi Dori and soon we reached Ginza. This is a modern neighbourhood with tall skyscrapers, sparkling shops windows and high fashion brands stores. In this area, still on Harumi Dori, we seen the Kabuki-za Theatre, famous for the Kabuki shows. Here we stopped for a short while to see the beautiful structure of the Theatre and here some nice boy gave us two fans covered with advertisement. It was early morning, but the sun was shining hard, the humidity was high and we felt like in a oven. So, these fans were very much appreciated.
Traditional Japanese Theatre
In Japan there are four main types of Theatre. The list that I’ll write below was taken from Wikipedia, for further information on each style, you can click on the addresses that I’ll post at the end of every small part. Noh (能 Nō), or Nogaku (能楽 Nōgaku) - Derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent"—is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and consists of five Noh plays interspersed with shorter, humorous kyōgen pieces. However, present-day Noh performances often consist of two Noh plays with one Kyōgen play in between. While the field of Noh performance is extremely codified, and regulated by the iemoto system, with an emphasis on tradition rather than innovation, some performers do compose new plays or revive historical ones that are not a part of the standard repertoire. Works blending Noh with other theatrical traditions have also been produced (link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noh). Kyōgen (狂言?, literally "mad words" or "wild speech") is a form of traditional Japanese comic theater. It developed alongside Noh, was performed along with Noh as an intermission of sorts between Noh acts, on the same Noh stage, and retains close links to Noh in the modern day; therefore, it is sometimes designated Noh-kyōgen. However, its content is not at all similar to the formal, symbolic, and solemn Noh theater; kyōgen is a comical form, and its primary goal is to make its audience laugh. Kyōgen is sometimes compared to the Italian comic form of commedia dell'arte, which developed around the same period (14th century) and likewise features stock characters (link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyogen); Kabuki (歌舞伎) is a classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing (歌), dance (舞), and skill (伎). Kabuki is therefore sometimes translated as "the art of singing and dancing". These are, however, ateji characters which do not reflect actual etymology. The kanji of 'skill' generally refers to a performer in kabuki theatre. Since the word kabuki is believed to derive from the verb kabuku, meaning "to lean" or "to be out of the ordinary", kabuki can be interpreted as "avant-garde" or "bizarre" theatre. The expression kabukimono (歌舞伎者) referred originally to those who were bizarrely dressed and swaggered on a street (link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabuki); Bunraku (文楽?), also known as Ningyō jōruri (人形浄瑠璃), is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theatre, founded in Osaka in 1684. Three kinds of performers take part in a bunraku performance:
The most accurate term for the traditional puppet theater in Japan is ningyō jōruri (人形浄瑠璃?). The combination of chanting and shamisen playing is called jōruri and the Japanese word for puppet (or dolls, generally) is ningyō. Bunraku puppetry has been a documented traditional activity for Japanese for hundreds of years (link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunraku). |
Going up Harumi Dori, just few metres far from the Kabuki-za Theatre, at the crossing with Showa Dori, we met “Pronto”. We were after such a long walk in such a heat, and when we connected the Italian word “Pronto” (it means “ready”) to the word “Coffee”, knowing that we are both caffeine addicted in lack of caffeine for two days we couldn’t resist from having our third breakfast. Actually, an unknown force dragged us inside, perhaps, those steaming coffee cups grew their own gravity force that for just a minute, reaching a critical mass, was stronger than the gravity force herself. In less than we could even say, we already ordered two cups of coffee and two cakes. We sat by a window with our guide books and maps on our table. Here we kept on glancing outside, noticing that the Taxis had many different colours. The Japanese ladies were so classy, while men were all dressed the same. Black pants, white shirt and company badge hanging from their necks. But the common thing, it didn’t matter if they were men, female or any other shade inbetween, everybody was addicted to smartphones. Everybody was touching, watching, typing, talking or playing with their own device. In Japan I’ve seen that everybody have smartphones with quite a large screen, and this can be comprehensible, thinking at the use and abuse of those machines. Thinking about addictions, I think that they could be as much addicted to their smartphones as I could ever be addicted to my coffee (…Ok… ...Ok, perhaps, I’m more addicted to the coffee…). Anybody has his favorite addiction that keep close to the heart.
While we were in this bar, we browsed our guide books. Here we discovered that quite close-by, we could visit the Godzilla Statue, or as Japanese call him, Gojira (in Japan the name is a hybrid between the name Gorilla and Whale). I daydreamt of this statue. I wondered how this statue could be. It should be huge, immense, mighty. Perhaps they made it enough huge and big to be posed as hugging a tall hotel and maybe it was biting a room off from the eleventh floor “Hei you Lizard! Stop! That’s my backpack! Please robotic-toilet wake up and save us! Laser-fry the Lizard ass off!”. But then, when we found the statue, we couldn’t hold our laugh back. The statue was something like 50 cm tall and the “ferocious” expression of Gojira, looked more like a sneeze. I couldn’t believe it. My cousin’s bunny, which name is Mirto (Myrtle), when he ask to be cuddled looks more menacing than this statue. Here we still took some picture and we left this area. The next place to visit would be the Hibiya Koen Park.
While we were in this bar, we browsed our guide books. Here we discovered that quite close-by, we could visit the Godzilla Statue, or as Japanese call him, Gojira (in Japan the name is a hybrid between the name Gorilla and Whale). I daydreamt of this statue. I wondered how this statue could be. It should be huge, immense, mighty. Perhaps they made it enough huge and big to be posed as hugging a tall hotel and maybe it was biting a room off from the eleventh floor “Hei you Lizard! Stop! That’s my backpack! Please robotic-toilet wake up and save us! Laser-fry the Lizard ass off!”. But then, when we found the statue, we couldn’t hold our laugh back. The statue was something like 50 cm tall and the “ferocious” expression of Gojira, looked more like a sneeze. I couldn’t believe it. My cousin’s bunny, which name is Mirto (Myrtle), when he ask to be cuddled looks more menacing than this statue. Here we still took some picture and we left this area. The next place to visit would be the Hibiya Koen Park.
From Hibiya Koen Park to the Tokyo Central Station
We came back on the Harumi Dori, and just nearby, after having passed under a railway bridge and some more blocks, we reached the Hibiya Koen Park. This park has three main qualities, it’s big, it ends against the moat of the Imperial Palace grounds and it has many replicas of famous statues, like, for example, the Rome Wolf complete with the two babies (Romulus and Remus). Japanese people have a great love for their parks, and perhaps, this is the one that we found better kept in Tokyo.
The sun was high in the sky and the temperature rose much higher than the stars. It was terribly hot and damp. Colours were sparkling brightly in our eyes and humidity slapped our faces, while cicadas were screaming their love songs in our hears. Yes, the cicadas. They were everywhere, and in every and each place, it could be a city, a village, a mountain or an island, and in any place they made different songs. They were incredible and they were everywhere. They were the real Japanese Ladies that sung the soundtrack of our trip. But that day, in spite of the heat and humidity, we didn’t want to give up. This charming Asian Lady named Tokyo was hugging us as a friend and was surprising us with new discoveries behind every corner. Every minute that we spent with her, she was charming us more and more.
Soon we reached the gates of the Imperial Palace, from this point, we inverted our direction and we went down to the Tokyo Central Station.
The sun was high in the sky and the temperature rose much higher than the stars. It was terribly hot and damp. Colours were sparkling brightly in our eyes and humidity slapped our faces, while cicadas were screaming their love songs in our hears. Yes, the cicadas. They were everywhere, and in every and each place, it could be a city, a village, a mountain or an island, and in any place they made different songs. They were incredible and they were everywhere. They were the real Japanese Ladies that sung the soundtrack of our trip. But that day, in spite of the heat and humidity, we didn’t want to give up. This charming Asian Lady named Tokyo was hugging us as a friend and was surprising us with new discoveries behind every corner. Every minute that we spent with her, she was charming us more and more.
Soon we reached the gates of the Imperial Palace, from this point, we inverted our direction and we went down to the Tokyo Central Station.
From Edo to Tokyo
Tokyo was originally was called Edo, which means "estuary". In fact, in the beginning, it was a fishermen village on the estuary of the Edo river. The village was part of the Musashi Province. Here lived a clan that fortified the city around the year 1100. In 1457 Ōta Dōkan build the Edo Castle. This was a very important step for the history of the city as (much) later it was turned into the Imperial Palace. In the far 1590, Tokugawa Ieyasu settled in Edo, and in 1603 he became shogun and the city became the centre of the Army of that times. By this way rose the prosperity of the city, which reached one million inhabitants in the 1700. The turning point was in the 1868 when the city became the Imperial Capital. The name Edo was changed into Tokyo (Tōkyō: tō 東(east) + kyō 京 (capital)). One year later, in 1869 when the Emperor Meiji moved to Edo, making it, de facto, the capital of the Empire. |
The Tokyo Central Station was exactly in front of us, but all around there were road works, construction sites and a lot of mess. According to our plans, we wished to turn to go to Akihabara, so we asked for some info. The first was a policeman. I asked for information to this guy, but he looked more interested into my wristwatch. It didn’t matter the movements that I was doing with my hand, he was following the wristwatch with this head. I circled it, he did the same, I put it up and then down, he did the same, I made an horizontal “8”, and, hard to believe, he did it too… After this performance, we decided that we’d better ask to somebody else. The next was a man in jacket and tie. I asked him the way to Akihabara and he, with broken English (I’m always surprised to find people speaking English as bad as me, it gives me a sense of belonging to some place, like being between beings of the same species) he said “You… Gh-Oh… You go, straight… And… (gesture like pushing away flies with the left hand) … and left!”. I was living a Deja-Vu. Obviously, we followed his directions and, hard to believe, we didn’t reach Akihabara, but we found ourselves into a construction site, surrounded by a cement mixer, smoking machinery and bricks. We got out of the site and we asked to a car-park attendant. He smiled back to us and using the universal language of the hand gestures he shown me the way to Akihabara, at the same moment, I was translating to Lula, which was looking at the map “He say… We… Should go… First straight, and then…” Lula said “Maybe Left?”; “Yes! You found it on the map?”, “No, it’s where we come from…”. Another wrong information. I was starting to wonder how the Japanese people can reach their workplace every morning on time.
We were now in deep confusion, on a hand, it was too hot and humid, while on the other hand, it was past midday. So, I suggested to have a lunch-break, maybe in a place with air-con. We entered the Tokyo Central Station and we went to the underground floor. Here a labyrinth of shops and restaurant opened before us, surrounded us, and close behind of us. We wandered around, but, thanks to our photographic memory, we kept track of our way “We seen that sushi advertisement before… At least three times… Even those pink drinks… At least two times… If we pass by that fat chef one more time he’ll ask us to attend to his marriage…”. Ok, in some moments we got lost. By this way, we checked the best offers and then we decided to have two steaming noodles dishes. While relaxing eating our food in the fresh of the air-con, we checked the map and we discovered that we should get out of the station from the same gate where we entered and to turn right. That was the right direction to Akihabara.
We were now in deep confusion, on a hand, it was too hot and humid, while on the other hand, it was past midday. So, I suggested to have a lunch-break, maybe in a place with air-con. We entered the Tokyo Central Station and we went to the underground floor. Here a labyrinth of shops and restaurant opened before us, surrounded us, and close behind of us. We wandered around, but, thanks to our photographic memory, we kept track of our way “We seen that sushi advertisement before… At least three times… Even those pink drinks… At least two times… If we pass by that fat chef one more time he’ll ask us to attend to his marriage…”. Ok, in some moments we got lost. By this way, we checked the best offers and then we decided to have two steaming noodles dishes. While relaxing eating our food in the fresh of the air-con, we checked the map and we discovered that we should get out of the station from the same gate where we entered and to turn right. That was the right direction to Akihabara.
Kanda on the way to Akihabara
Once we got out of the station, we first checked out to be at the right exit, and then we followed the railway leaving at our right. That was the direction that we should follow. Along the way we met many girls which were wandering around the town with luggage full of shoppers from the best branded shops. We were dressed like wanderers and soaked in sweat, we were exactly at the opposite of the stylish Italian that probably the girls imagine.
The idea to follow the railway shown to be the best one we could have. By this way, we could never get lost and by the same way we crossed some areas that were matching at the best the idea of the modern Japan that we had. It was the fascinating Kanda. It was lively, with neon bright lights, Japanese music from everywhere and many, many and many Pachinko parlors. Beautiful girls in traditional dresses were giving leaflets to the passers-by. By what we understood from the draws on the leaflets, it looked like that girl was working for a noodle shop, and there was some sort of a special offer on the noodle soup.
The idea to follow the railway shown to be the best one we could have. By this way, we could never get lost and by the same way we crossed some areas that were matching at the best the idea of the modern Japan that we had. It was the fascinating Kanda. It was lively, with neon bright lights, Japanese music from everywhere and many, many and many Pachinko parlors. Beautiful girls in traditional dresses were giving leaflets to the passers-by. By what we understood from the draws on the leaflets, it looked like that girl was working for a noodle shop, and there was some sort of a special offer on the noodle soup.
Akihabara - Following the White Maid to the Japanese Wonderland
Akihabara introduced herself as a neighbourhood of tall buildings, one close to the other. All was sparkling with neons, flashes of light blinked all around, there was music and a beautiful confusion.
Some big street cross the neighbourhood, while some, rather dark, alley depart from the sides. This is the land of the Otaku, the Japanase guys crazy for the manga comics, cartoons, high-tech stuff and videogames.
We went deep in the neighbourhood and we visited several high-tech shops, until we met the shop that suited the most our idea of “Otaku”. It was a seven floors shop, all about manga comics, videogamens, action figures and cartoons. It was definitely fantastic! Japanese boys and less-young people were in real veneration of what was sold there, and they were exactly our counterpart as we were excited, hyped, and we were running from a thing to another. So, it’s true! It was a revelation! The Japan that we imagine, it does really exist!
After an extensive visit of the shop, we left it and we entered a alley around the corner, where there was a large group of Japanese boys. The reason of that group was that there was a sort of “discount-open-air-market” of Action Figures. Here we bought some of them, were Gundam and Maids, at a really cheap price. Fantastic!
While in Japan I learnt give up and not try to find a logic in the domestic tastes, even if they might appear bizarre. One of these peculiar things in Akihabara, are the Maid Bars. In fact, it looks like Japanese people like to go to these bars and being served by waiters dressed like Victorian maids. Usually, these bars don’t imply any sexual service, but I can’t say that this rule is valid for all the Maid Bars in Tokyo.
It was late afternoon when the Maids started to appear. To be correct, the maids that can be seen by the streets aren’t other than promoters that give away leaflets and try to convince the passers-by to enter in their bars. They don’t like to be pictured, so that was the moment in which I’ve been very happy of the zoom of my camera.
Needless to say, being both of me and Lula surreal, we attracted a maid like we were two magnets. She was totally nuts and kept of laughing like a crazy (we were the same). So, the three of the same kind finally met in the streets of Tokyo. In the beginning Lula wasn’t so sure to follow the crazy girl, but I already knew that it was a inoffensive attraction, so I convinced Lula to visit the Maid Bar (which name was Maidreaming, and the website is http://maidreaming.com) of this funny crazy girl.
The sun had already set, and we were going down an Akihabara street. It was a kaleidoscope of neon signs and flashes. An hypnotic and colourful strobe. We were, all of a sudden, a tourist version of Alice in a Japanese Wonderland, but in spite following a white rabbit down the rabbit hole, per follower the Maid in White Lace up a all-but-safe-looking creaky elevator, in a shabby building of a alley in Akihabara. The border between the two dimensions was shaped as a heavy door quilted in red leather. When it opened, a white and creamy glittering and sparkling world opened before us too. Before we could imagine, we were seized by that new dimension.
In opposition to the outside of the building, the club was light and bright coloured, it was polished and sparkling; it gave happy sensations from every bit. In Alice in Wonderland, Alice eaten a piece of cake to grow, while we were given a piece of “Sakura Cake”, that means a Cherry Cake to deliver us into this childish dimension, shaped as a child room furnished with over sized toys. We were still gazing all around when two maids went on a small stage and started singing the karaoke of many cartoon soundtracks. We were smiling, laughing like children and while eating our cakes when started the song of “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea”. It was decided, this would be the soundtrack of this part of our travel. While Alice had to fight her way through the rabbit hole and the pit, for us had been easier to find our Wonderland. We just had eaten our cake, and by this way, we discovered another bit of the contradictory, childish and surreal Japanese soul, that here people try to hide behind the neons, the technology and Japanese precision. If we wouldn’t find contradictions here, we couldn’t find it in any other place in the World.
After the Maids experience we took a train and we came back to Asakusa, where we had our dinner in a small restaurant near the Senso-Ji Temple.
On our way back to the hotel I tried to withdraw some cash at an ATM, but it didn’t look like working. We tried another and another again, but they were keeping on refusing our debit cards. This was quite a big trouble, but what the Hell was going on? As soon as we reached the hotel we used the free internet connection to look for some answer, and here we discovered that foreigners can only withdraw cash from the ATMs in the postal offices, while to take money from the “regular” ATMs people need an account in that same bank.
We would try to withdraw some cash at the postal office the next day, hopefully.
This first full day in Japan was amazing and we couldn’t wait to continue our exploration the next day.
Good Night beautiful Tokyo. See you under a new Rising Sun!
Some big street cross the neighbourhood, while some, rather dark, alley depart from the sides. This is the land of the Otaku, the Japanase guys crazy for the manga comics, cartoons, high-tech stuff and videogames.
We went deep in the neighbourhood and we visited several high-tech shops, until we met the shop that suited the most our idea of “Otaku”. It was a seven floors shop, all about manga comics, videogamens, action figures and cartoons. It was definitely fantastic! Japanese boys and less-young people were in real veneration of what was sold there, and they were exactly our counterpart as we were excited, hyped, and we were running from a thing to another. So, it’s true! It was a revelation! The Japan that we imagine, it does really exist!
After an extensive visit of the shop, we left it and we entered a alley around the corner, where there was a large group of Japanese boys. The reason of that group was that there was a sort of “discount-open-air-market” of Action Figures. Here we bought some of them, were Gundam and Maids, at a really cheap price. Fantastic!
While in Japan I learnt give up and not try to find a logic in the domestic tastes, even if they might appear bizarre. One of these peculiar things in Akihabara, are the Maid Bars. In fact, it looks like Japanese people like to go to these bars and being served by waiters dressed like Victorian maids. Usually, these bars don’t imply any sexual service, but I can’t say that this rule is valid for all the Maid Bars in Tokyo.
It was late afternoon when the Maids started to appear. To be correct, the maids that can be seen by the streets aren’t other than promoters that give away leaflets and try to convince the passers-by to enter in their bars. They don’t like to be pictured, so that was the moment in which I’ve been very happy of the zoom of my camera.
Needless to say, being both of me and Lula surreal, we attracted a maid like we were two magnets. She was totally nuts and kept of laughing like a crazy (we were the same). So, the three of the same kind finally met in the streets of Tokyo. In the beginning Lula wasn’t so sure to follow the crazy girl, but I already knew that it was a inoffensive attraction, so I convinced Lula to visit the Maid Bar (which name was Maidreaming, and the website is http://maidreaming.com) of this funny crazy girl.
The sun had already set, and we were going down an Akihabara street. It was a kaleidoscope of neon signs and flashes. An hypnotic and colourful strobe. We were, all of a sudden, a tourist version of Alice in a Japanese Wonderland, but in spite following a white rabbit down the rabbit hole, per follower the Maid in White Lace up a all-but-safe-looking creaky elevator, in a shabby building of a alley in Akihabara. The border between the two dimensions was shaped as a heavy door quilted in red leather. When it opened, a white and creamy glittering and sparkling world opened before us too. Before we could imagine, we were seized by that new dimension.
In opposition to the outside of the building, the club was light and bright coloured, it was polished and sparkling; it gave happy sensations from every bit. In Alice in Wonderland, Alice eaten a piece of cake to grow, while we were given a piece of “Sakura Cake”, that means a Cherry Cake to deliver us into this childish dimension, shaped as a child room furnished with over sized toys. We were still gazing all around when two maids went on a small stage and started singing the karaoke of many cartoon soundtracks. We were smiling, laughing like children and while eating our cakes when started the song of “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea”. It was decided, this would be the soundtrack of this part of our travel. While Alice had to fight her way through the rabbit hole and the pit, for us had been easier to find our Wonderland. We just had eaten our cake, and by this way, we discovered another bit of the contradictory, childish and surreal Japanese soul, that here people try to hide behind the neons, the technology and Japanese precision. If we wouldn’t find contradictions here, we couldn’t find it in any other place in the World.
After the Maids experience we took a train and we came back to Asakusa, where we had our dinner in a small restaurant near the Senso-Ji Temple.
On our way back to the hotel I tried to withdraw some cash at an ATM, but it didn’t look like working. We tried another and another again, but they were keeping on refusing our debit cards. This was quite a big trouble, but what the Hell was going on? As soon as we reached the hotel we used the free internet connection to look for some answer, and here we discovered that foreigners can only withdraw cash from the ATMs in the postal offices, while to take money from the “regular” ATMs people need an account in that same bank.
We would try to withdraw some cash at the postal office the next day, hopefully.
This first full day in Japan was amazing and we couldn’t wait to continue our exploration the next day.
Good Night beautiful Tokyo. See you under a new Rising Sun!