Labels
architecture
Asheville
atheism
bard
bbq
books
buddhism
buffy
burgers
cars
comics
fashion
film
food
japan
kung fu
Las Vegas
manga
memory
music
New Zealand
other people's blogs
photography
podcast updates
politics
San Francisco
Santa Cruz
sex
shoes
shopping
snow skiing
taoism
toys
travel
TV
video
web 2.0
women
writing
Sunday, January 28, 2007
We love Tokyo!! I'd move there in a heartbeat, but I don't think the Japanese really want me there. I respect that. It only makes me want to live there more, but I respect that.
I thought that I'd arrived in Tokyo without a word of Japanese, but I realized over the course of the week that there were several words I knew. For example:
- arigato - thanks
- hai - yes
- gaijin - foreigner, sometimes derogatory
- romaji - romanized japanese
- kaiju - monster
I didn't say they were all very useful. I really should have gotten more comfortable saying 'sorry' and 'excuse me'. I sure did hear those a lot.
I wonder if I could ever get sick of the politeness in Tokyo. It's astonishing that a city so big can work so flawlessly by depending on a culture's sheer desire to just do things right. People don't honk their horns. Cabs let other cars merge. Trains arrive on time. Smokers use smoking stations. Parents take screaming children outside. The streets are clean. Cops patrol construction zones making sure pedestrians don't hurt themselves. And of course...
Pardon our Progress.
Since Chris and I don't speak Japanese, the amount of interaction we had with Japanese people occured in the form of us being served, mostly at restaurants. Here are some charming, helpful, and maybe a little unexpected things I noticed about being served in Japan:
- A hot towel or handi-wipe came before every meal we had. You see this in Japanese restaurants here, but I don't know why this hasn't caught on at every restaurant. It's the best. Hang on to your towel during the meal. It may be your only or, at least, most useful napkin.
- Servers will repeat your order to you for you to confirm with a 'hai'. You will often be provided with a menu with items listed in English which your non-English speaking server will attempt to pronounce, per tradition. Be patient. Say 'hai', and be gracious and a little shocked (as was I) when they apologize to you for not speaking English.
- Bowing happens. It serves as a greeting or a parting - much like a handshake. (I didn't see people really touching each other at all, except for the occasional girlfriends holding hands.) It appears that a bow can be a show of respect or just a simple acknowledgement. When servers bow to you after you complete your order, you may also notice them take a step or two backwards before turning around. It's impolite to turn one's back on someone. I didn't put my finger on this practice immediately, but I realized that it was the one that subconsciously made me feel most awkward about being served.
- Generally, servers won't come to your table unless you indicate to them that you are ready to order or that you need something. I really love this one. It's a good personal space rule for everyone involved. Also, I think we paid on the way out the door of every restaurant we ate in. You don't wait for the check. Just head for the door when you're ready to leave. Nice to have meal at your own pace.
- We only went to a couple bars, but at each place, a tab was started immediately without a credit card and without question. This may seem like a small thing, but I find it thoughtful and considerate. It also indicates a small level of trust that you, the patron, will play by the rules and pay before leaving.
- Smokers, ask for an ashtray. Some establishments may not allow smoking, and others might segregate smokers from the non-smokers, but we noticed mostly that smoking was allowed in places that we wouldn't have expected. Conversely, it is not polite to walk and smoke outdoors. It's allowed in most areas, but it's actively prohibited on some streets. It appears that the Japanese would actually prefer to keep the smoking indoors or, at least, huddled around ashtrays at smoking stations or near vending machines. It's actually quite nice to be prompted to stop and take a break for a cigarette.
Did I mention that Chris and I quit smoking upon our return to the States? That was part of the deal. So far, so good. Speaking of Chris, if you have some interest in his haul from Tokyo, you may want to read his post to his Japanese toy forum: http://toyboxst.inwards.com/phorum/read.php?1,160525. The toy photos are also all on flickr.
The quest for Chris's toys took us to a couple neighborhoods we probably never would have gone - Sugamo and Nakano. Nakano seemed like a respectable address. Our destination there was a 4-story shopping center full of toy, record, and book stores. Might I recommend to you the gachapon. I found some dirty little girl toys in the back corner of one of the rooms full of gachapon machines somewhere on the 3rd floor (I think).
Here's a picture taken inside Nakano Broadway. I was standing in front of one of the Mandarake stores:
Now checkout the ceiling from the Venetian in Vegas:
Cool.
Sugamo didn't seem quite as nice, although we did get turned around and walked through some more industrial areas than we'd seen so far. By the way, if you ever get directions that tell you to 'cross the main road' or 'turn right before the overhang', ask some clarifying questions before you're out on the street. An overhang, if you're wondering, is an awning.
This brings me to another point regarding navigating the city. First, the trains aren't hard, but you have to pay attention. There are a couple things to keep in mind, especially if you're seeking a specific and off the beaten path location.
- The subway has two lines. You have to buy Toei line tickets separately when transfering. The lines share stations, and they'll appear on the same map, but when you find yourself staring at a fare map on the wall above the ticket machines, wondering where the hell your stop is, remember that the Toei machines are separate.
- There are rapid and local trains. This isn't uncommon with any train system, but keep an eye out. The rapid and local trains come to the same platforms. We watched some Japanese folks also struggling to make sure they were on the right train, and they could actually understand the PA announcements.
- If you have directions from a particular station to your destination, make sure you know what exit the directons use. This is particularly important when you have directions that refer to, ahem, the 'main road'.
Tokyo's street map can also be intimidating. First of all, it's not laid out in blocks. Secondly, what's up with all those little roads with no names? Do not dispair. You'll find yourself spending most of your time wandering around those alleys, finding endless nooks and cranies with restaurants, shops, homes, and bars. Harajuku was our favorite, as you will see from our pictures. Shibuya was fun, but a bit more hectic. I definitely prefer it to Shinjuku, however. We probably spent most of our time in Harajuku, Aoyama (which is where our hotel was) and Akasaka which had a ton of restaurants. Except for a couple toy excursions, we walked everywhere.
Most of our pictures were taken out on the street. Our full set of photos has been on flickr since the end of the trip, but this weekend, I went back to the architecture photos to see how I might wish to modify them. Some cropping and level adjusting maybe. Nothing major. I'm not a big fan of photoshop, in general. I started to feel a little weird about even cropping. I am, however, a big fan of a self-imposed formula, so I decided that I would crop all the photos I picked for my architecture set into 1890x1890 squares. I made this decision based on the first photo that I chose to crop. My commitment to this template congealed as I realized that cutting the photos into squares would mean that the square thumbnails provided on flickr would show the full photo. Then I remembered Sam, a photographer friend of mine, lamenting that people might start taking photos in a very specific way just because of the way they're displayed on flickr. That sealed it. It had to be done.
Another happy side-effect of the decision is that by using a square format, I've maximized the real estate for our photos on all the viewing pages. They're all max height and width. Also, the batch uploader didn't have to do any resizing of the original images.
Here's a link to the Tokyo Architecture set, most of which has been cropped into squares. The original photos were taken by both me and Chris:
Here's a link to the full Tokyo set. Again, this is a mix of photos taken by both me and Chris:
If you're too lazy to go to flickr to see the pictures, at least check out the view we had from our hotel room. This was taken at dawn:
And this, the winning photograph from the whole trip, taken by Chris. No, this has not been modified in any way. He claims he was just 'lucky'.
 Labels: japan, travel
0 comments
| link to this post
Friday, January 19, 2007
Since the first day we arrived in Tokyo, Chris and I have not been able to escape the news of this crazy new burger that McDonald's decided to release only in Japan. Four patties, three pieces of bread, etc, etc. Just like the Big Mac, I guess, except double the meat. Apparently, sales of this limited time offer went through the roof - http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/396309.
However, tonight, our last night here in Tokyo, when we finally succumbed to the media frenzy, the poor server at the 24 hour McDonald's in Akasaka had to tell us it was sold out, much to the amusement of the gentleman standing behind us waiting for his food. We didn't stay. At least we had the self-respect to not order burgers we could get in the US. That said, what the hell is so special about the Mega Mac that it would be sold out? I mean...isn't it just a couple extra patties of beef? I don't know. Maybe something was lost in the lack of translation.
In any case, it was an ironic end to a day of shopping in Harajuku during which I was unable to find a button-up sweater big enough to fit around my giant, burger-loving, American ass. Soon, I think, Japanese stores will need to carry sizes larger then their 2s and occasional 3s.Labels: burgers, food, japan, travel
0 comments
| link to this post
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Please. I don't speak a word of your language. You served me food and beverage. I was a pain in your ass. Just take the damn money. That said, your politeness renews my faith in the human race.
This was just one small experience here in Tokyo that makes us not want to return to the US. Need another? Well, Chris can get a piece of meat with an egg on top of it in almost any restaurant. What else? Let's see...you can get cold or hot (warm, really) coffee or tea from fully functioning and undefiled vending machines on any block, including little residential alleys. Can I think of another? Oh yeah, this place is surprisingly clean, unbelievably safe, and remarkably quiet.
Stuff like this really helps, too:
Everything's just so damn cute.Labels: japan, travel
0 comments
| link to this post
|
