SHE'S BAAAAAACK

My blog from my last trip to Tokyo met a somewhat untimely end after I started doing intense, serious research (read: having too much fun). Now thanks to a wonderful exchange programme that Cambridge has with Nihon University, I am now back for a 3 month course of Japanese and for more curry doughnuts.

My story can only begin with the journey because things didn't exactly go smoothly. Firstly, I managed to tip 250ml of water into my handbag, saturating the contents, including my boarding pass. It was still legible but despite my protestations, the lady at the gate referred me to another desk in order to get it reprinted. I promptly approached this desk with the announcement of "Hello! I am water leakage girl!" Don't ever refer to "leakage" and yourself in the same sentence unless you want people to regard you with barely-concealed horror.

To top off this general leakage theme, I managed to get the seat on the plane with the fold-out tray that doesn't lie straight. The wonderful slant angles everything towards my lap. In an attempt to cut a slice of chicken breast, I near-catapulted a cup of apple juice over the elderly Japanese man next to me.

So....so far so good. After being greeted at Narita and then Shinjuku station, Antony and I lugged our stuff into the taxi and then into our raaaather nice accommodation (bedroom, kitchen, bathroom - and spacious by Tokyo standards!) to then be given a tour of the area where we're staying: Shimotakaido. Now, it's only 5 mins walk to that station but somehow we ended up..."admiring the view" along several other streets before we finally found our way back. By that point, I had been on the go for 26 hours. Whew.

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Today, my fellow students and I took a stroll round Asakusa and Ueno in the unusally high temperatures for this time of year (33degC+) but the not-so-unusual humidity. Highlight was possibly watching the wildlife in the the lake in Ueno Park. Turtles and carp and a duck all battled valiantly for bread. As a result, I can now introduce you to a world exclusive game: Duck, Fish, Turtle. Rules are the same as Rock, Paper, Scissors. Duck beats fish, fish beats turtle, turtle beats duck. Invent your own hand signs as necessary.

August 5th - “That’s right, kids! Safety can be fun”

This morning I set off on a desperate search to find a bank to change my travellers’ cheques. I did find such a bank fairly easily. My near downfall was when they asked me where I was staying or for a contact telephone number or to see my passport. It is quite disarming to learn I was casually strolling about the city without such basic knowledge, Quick-thinking, I managed to remember the area that the New Koyo hostel had been in and wrote that down and it was accepted – phew!

Next, I decided to meet up with two German brothers who were staying at Yuji’s because they were meeting their Japanese friend. Who spoke English. It was the equivalent to dollar-signs in my eyes. After a few frantic phone calls from some poor Japanese teenager’s phone, I managed to meet them at Ueno. The guys went off to visit the National Museum and so R and I sat down to interview. Details to follow in another post.

Later on we wandered through Shibuya and all its high-rise buildings and flashing signs. Highlights:

- one of the brothers buying a Tokyo flask at HMV and being told to wait whilst they filled it with the most delicious iced mocha latte I have ever tasted

- posing with scenester kids (see photo)

- Condomania – the novelty condom shop with the slogan “safety can be fun”. I was so tempted to buy a condom dressed up like a lollypop but at Y525 for one…*cough* rip-off *cough*

Phrase of the day:

“SO cute!” – R loves everything with a smiley face, or that’s sparkly, or glittery. Judging by the other enraptured faces of teenage girls in the Disney store admiring kids’ dress-up costumes, or looking at a bejewelled mobile phone in an electronics store, she was not alone.

Sounds, smells, sights....Thomas the Tank Engine?!

A quick update as I'm pushed for time. I've not slept a hell of a lot....

My second day in Tokyo involved me getting lost. My third day did too actually. I have a feeling many more days like this are to come.

I tried wandering down to Akihabara to find a bank open on a Saturday only but I ended up trekking through Akasusa past where I saw that shrine yesterday. Then I decided to head to Akihabara to check out the electronics stores. There were a lot of electronics. There was a lot of anime. Anime porn. I think I'm going to end up fantasising about cartoons. I'm also obsessed with the lucky dip vending machines where you can slot a coin in and get an anime character out. Grown men and women get stuff all the time - they love these things!

I then tried to walk to Sumida River area, once again disorientated. By the time I arrived and found the Sumo Museum - which was closed - the humidity had turned me into a slimy mess. In desperation I caught the subway to Ueno where I admired the shrine and the TURTLES IN THE LAKE!! I also went to the National Museum of Japan. I loved the history of Buddhism exhibit. But the best thing was that you can sleep in the comfy chairs. Loads of people were doing it. My jetlagged led me to do it. Sorted.

Arrived at Yuji's. Met a load of people from France, Poland, Holland, US and who knows where else.

Best smell of the day:
Warm sugary crepes on street corners filled with ice cream and/or fruit.

Unusual sounds of the day:
The peace of Ueno Park being interrupted by the Thomas the Tank Engine theme tume.
The National Museum playing Auld Lang Syne at closing time - did I miss something?

Crazy dogs of the day:
A dog being carried in a handbag
A man wiping his poodle's bum - I know the toilets in Japan have jets to spray your bum (I did have fun today) but for dogs as well? Next they'll be training them to use loos!

August 2nd

We set off to Harajuku where we visited a flea market and I picked up a couple of bargains.
Found my favourite clothes shope in Takeshita Street - think sequens and tassles and everything garish and outrageous - wait, that sounds like my normal wardrobe? Well, I'm not denying it ;-)
Discovered the importance of an umbrella after rain turned me into drowned rat/ general hobo and ruined my potential Shibuya sight-seeing.
Went to Shinjuku, the "Times Square" of Tokyo. Discovered my hatred of the station. We (me and fellow CSers) could not find the west side of the station. The west side was on the east side of the tracks.
Sat eating a crepe at Roppongi Hills, a swanky, futuristic, and gigantic complex, when out of the ground a musical fountain emerged. Bells, tunes, the lot.
Another good sound - the pop melodies played everytime a subway train arrives at a station *be happy, disco, you have arrived....*

Twenty-two hours and several nude scenes later...

I made it. I am currently sitting in a box room at a nevertheless very friendly backpackers' place, New Koyo.

My travels began at 4.20 am - see me cheerfully posing by the car in which I was chauffeur driven to the airport. Things don't end quite so grandly - no post-travel photo is being published.

Check in went without mishaps (I was not searched for drugs for once...) although one lady did hold up the queue by trying to take several pots of yoghurt through the "no-liquids" zone. It made me wonder though, at what point does something stop being liquid enough to count? Yoghurt is fairly gloopy but if you had ice cubes....?

Aboard my flight, I heard two Japanese girls next to me converse in English with the air hostess. Being eager and keen, I spotted an interview opportunity which was sadly not carried through for two reasons:
1) I heard you're not supposed to blow your nose in public in Japan and just sniff....but my nose refuses to obey so I had to do some swift furtive actions. I suddenly noticed that one of the girls had moved away completely and the other was asleep with her eye mask on...over her mouth. Am I paranoid?!!
2) I chose to watch "Babel" as it was recommended as a film for good shots of Tokyo. It also had a mute-deaf sex-crazed nympho Japanese schoolgirl who spent a large proportion of the film graphically exposing her nether regions...I don't think this particularly made a good impression to the two potential interviewees. To dig the hole deeper, the second film I chose to watch also had particularly prolonged sex scenes that made me squirm in embarrassment as my subconscious projected disapproving eyes onto the back of my scalp.

But to move on to Japan itself - the glimpses I got from the window of the Narita Airport to Ueno connection have been superb. It's so green! Far much more than I imagined, although I appreciate it's August. The next thing that struck me were the overall ramshackled style of the clusters of dwellings. No space is wasted. Buildings lean together and stretch apart in ways that don't look physically possible. Even if the gap is about foot wide between one house and the next, you can guarantee that they'll be some green plant bursting it's way upwards and making its presence felt.

Surveying the crazily packed structures and their elegant curved roofs, and even the maze of thick wires connecting them, I fell instantly in love. It also possibly had something to do with the sleepy Buddha lying outside a graveyard. For me, it's real life anime. I know it's early days but watch out for my emerging inner Japanophile....

However, it's nap time for me now and I'll update after my undecided adventures of this afternoon.