With the parents back in Yokosuka, I took to the Tokyo streets alone. Having decided to hit the parks in dt Tokyo, the zoo and the electronics district, I had my plan of action. The subway ride was a quick ten-minute trip uptown and the parks/zoo area was right next to the subway station.
Before I went into the park, I decided to check out the streets. It was very much like I had expected, high rise buildings covered with colorful ads and animations and nothing I could read.
Navigating through the densest part of downtown was not as challenging as I had imagined because well, you take four lefts and you are right back where you started. What logic! Anyway in the backstreets and side alleys of the city there were a number of bars and shops just like you would expect. Never did I imagine seeing the massive amounts of, what I guess we would call “strip clubs,” even though I am sure they were hardly just stripping inside. Being the devout Christian that I am, I didn’t go inside any of them (cough no money cough) haha kidding. It was shocking to see how many there were on just one block, usually multiple stories high. I should have come to expect it cause of how perverted this part of the world tends to be in general. So I departed the backstreets for the zoo and the various temples that were nearby.
A long, paved walkway wound its way through the park. It had a few temples and shrines along the way. Eventually it led me to the main park and zoo area. There were bell towers that were over half a century old surrounding the areas of worship. Of course the large lantern statues littered the adjacent gardens as well.
Once I passed through the main gate to the zoo, front and center was the panda house. Ever since I saw the Red Panda on an episode of Planet Earth I was determined to see one on my trip out here, but didn’t think I was going to be able to since I wasn’t in the northern mountain region where they typically reside. To my surprise, there were a number of them lounging next to the world famous Giant Panda Ling-Ling. The zoo had a ton of other exotic animals on display including Lions, Tigers and Bears… Oh My!
After what was probably entirely too long a time at the zoo for a 22 year old, I got a little too artistic with the camera and ended up taking like a zillion pictures of the animals, I crossed the street to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Tokyo.
A short time later, I left… I don’t always get art. So I proceeded to some more shrines and temples. Walking through the park I noticed a massive congregation of homeless people. I thought it might be some sort of conference or reunion before I realized that they were unloading a bunch of food from a truck. The people were actually waiting in line to receive their donation.
What a country, back in the states we consider them a bunch of freeloading bums but here in Japan no one goes hungry, or maybe it was a one time deal. I dunno it was a lot of drunk bums chillin... Speaking of hungry…
Before I hopped on the subway to hit the electronic district I stopped in at the Hard Rock Café Tokyo (so cliché I know) for a drink and maybe a bite to eat. The notion of food escaped me after a round of Cuervo. Eventually it turned into a few bruschi’s, as I would strike up a conversation with a 31-year old, divorced electrical engineer from Finland! We covered a number of topics including global politics (which was the bulk of the three hour long convo), his upcoming trip to the US for the first time, his past fourteen experiences in Japan, love, life and just about everything else under the sun. I know, I know… I would. A few hours later we parted ways, each with a newfound perspective. I would also have you know that I quickly made friends with the bartender, Tomo. He was furiously tossing around liquor bottles and juggling shakers a la Tom Cruise in Cocktail. Keeping in line with the cultural norm I couldn’t tip and sadly left empty handed due to the fact that each beer was about $6!
Deciding to see what this country had to offer in terms of technology, I checked out the widely popular area known as the Electronics district or Akihibrah. I didn’t realize it was starting to get dark because as I came up the stairs the neon lights brilliantly illuminated the streets, resembling an arcade. To be honest it freggin looked and felt like one too.
There were video game characters on billboards, video game stations on the streets and flashing neon lights everywhere. It was a video gamers wet dream. Looked more like a Playstation 3 vommitted up a city to me, but hey at least I didn’t see anyone dressed up in costume and looking for a convention. And knowing I could still whoop anyone of these geeks asses in Madden was comforting. I only went into a few stores to check out the technology they had for sale but I didn’t see anything that was too far out of Best Buy’s stock. I did spend a good half hour inside the Mac store drooling and setting my standards for the upcoming laptop purchase I will be making. Tomorrow we’re going to take the bullet train to Kyoto for most of the day so I don’t know how much I will have to write but we will see. For now, I am off to the bar in the hotel to see if I can make some friends.
-Arigatoo & Kombanwa (Thanks & good evening)
GB
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