Travelog

This diary tracks our progress along the Silk Roads, with episodes appearing in date order, most recent first.  You can get to earlier entries by turning pages at the bottom of the screen.

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Category: Travelog

Our time in Tokyo is drawing to a close now, as we prepare to depart for Mount Fuji and then on to Kyoto.  I shaln't bore you with the details of our urban adventures but will outline some of the experiences for my own future reflection:

The day after horror-night we went to meet up with about 20 HC members for a 'party' in a really nice park by the river outside of central town and a real obstacle course to get to for someone on their first Tokyo day.  The logistics are a bit tricky on account of this place have 2 seperate underground systems and 2 seperate above-ground train systems.  And I don't mean just seperate trains, or ownership, I mean tracks, ticket systems, the lot.  Wholly distinct entities that between them conspire to carve up hapless tourists in a Kafka-esque nightmare of twisting tunnels and conflicting signs.  We have sussed it now and actually it is surprisingly straight forward and logical once you get the fundamental brinciple.  A bit like calculus I guess.  The party was top - we were fed and watered adn everyone was so friendly to us that we felt at home very quickly.  And we would never have seen that part of town otherwise, so it was nice to get off the tourist trail.  The whole thing was organised by Mochan, a young fella who is a realy force of nature, the kind of person who just enthuses relentlessly at the world until it gives in and becomes a better place.  We are staying with him near Mt Fuji and it will be great to spend some more time chatting.

We left the party late afternoon and headed into town to visit the human circus that is  Harajuku, one of the main centres for the bizarre fashion of CosPlay where people dress up to be seen as their celebrity hero from real life, moveis or manga.  Very Japanese, wierd from a western perpective but not so much when you remember that these folks just do not have the same sense of sin and repression as Europeans do.  There is a darker side however, with a trend towards a sub-sub-culture within CosPlay, based around the concept of Gothic Lolitas and which attracts a surprisingly large number of participants.

On Monday we had a totally different, utterly wonderful time which, in an attempt to inject at least some sense of suspense into this diary, I'm not going to mention (but I expect Ellen will!).  Sufficed to say that  we were extremely honoured to be able to have that day in our lives.  Tuesday was spent largely in Akihabara, an entire district consisting of discount electronics stores, manga palaces, toy and model shops and an increasing number of yet-again-weird cafes where the latest trend is to have waitresses dressed as french maids and who dote upon the clientele to the point of even spoon-feeding them.  I get the distinct feeling that female emancipation is up against it here, but as an outsider must remember that my western perspective could be distorting my perceptions.  I did not see any cafes advertising fetishistic male waiters who would be subservient to their clientele, at any rate.  The evening was spent abandoning plans to find a bookshop, and walking around one of the densest and most commercial parts of inner Tokyo, Shinjuju - particluarly the skyscraper district where much gawping was done.  Very Blade-Runner, very imposing and shiny, and very definitely not the place to take up amateur astronomy - this is surely a contender for the most light-polluted place on Earth?

Today we organised our tickets for travel to Mt Fuji,  played with many gadgets in the Sony Building in Ginza and somehow I didn't come away with a computer - all is not lost!  Too late to see much there we nonetheless headed to the Tokyo National Museum which was huge, very impressive and surprisingly cheap.  We only managed to have half an hour but even that was well worth it.  If any of you martial arts folks know the answer to this, please let me know:  what is the difference between a katana sword and its predecessor, the Tachi, which it began to replace during the Edo period.  Both kinds were on display and aside from katanas being displayed blade-up and tachis blade-down I swear I could see absolutely no difference at all:  the curve was identical, the length and width were identical, and the hilt settings were identical.  I know it is pretty irrelevant but this seeming lack of distiction is driving me nuts - what is the answer?!

 After and amazing supper to celebrate our time in Tokyo, in a very tucked away place that seemed to be the Japanese answer to Tapas and which provided one of the top 4 gastronomic experiences in life, we hunted and found a second-hand English bookshop but failed to find the sought-after Korea guide book.  Giving up we went to the Kagurazaka district - a small place that foreigners don't seem to go to and which is not mentioned in any of the guides.  We went there becasue local advice suggested that it is one of the few places left in Tokyo where we might see geishas if we were lucky.  Needless to say that as part of this charmed adventure we were indeed lucky, although the main highlight of the evening was simply scurrying around the tiny alleyways and lanes around this very untouristy and very unmodernised part of town, giving us a brief glimpse of a world almost lost now and hidden well from the new order; of tea houses, secret Japanese courtyards, of invitations we will never recieve and of the magic of Geisha.  A most wonderful end to our last full day here, and a great transitory episode on our way to Kyoto.

If we have time we will sight-see on Thursday before our slow-train, maybe to the opened-up imperial gardens just east of the palace and maybe to the sumo district, but either way I'm not sure my heart will be in it as I contemplate leaving this city that has achieved the impossible on a very personal level - it has blended, mostly sympathetically, my 2 great passions which I had always assumed were in opposition to each other; nature and technology.  Even despite the recent economic problems this is still a word-leading cutting-edge centre for computer based technology as evidenced in a perfectly precise transport system, amazing modern architecture and electronic wizardry at every turn.  At the same time there are very well attended shinto shrines, wonderful parks, protected areas like you just wouldn't get anywhere else and a love and reverence for nature that is the very basis of all everyday expression, particularly in art and cuisine.  If Tokyo as capital is representitive of Japan then I have to conclude that although I vaguely disaprove of  the most hedonistic, decadent country in the world, and although I simply cannot understand most to-me bizarre Japanese culture on such a short visit, the place has hooked me.  I am addicted.

 

 

 

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We awoke bleary-eyed in the cyber-cafe after a short sleep on Saturday morning, amazed that we made it to the heart of Tokyo and with the chance to do absolutely anything we want.  We made an early decision to not compromise the experience in this high cost, high energy place even if it means shortening the trip through lack of funds - we most likely will never get the chance to come back and this place demands to be explored.  So Ellen finds us a great hostel, new, clean, in the heart of Asakusa, a plebian district north east of the imperial palace that survived the war and is now a centre for the traditional cultural side of Tokyo rather than the big lights - perfect for somewhere to come back to at night tired and in need of some personal space.  Hospitality Club is fantastic but there comes a point, especially in a place like this, where we need some solitude for the sake of sanity.

We are staying for the first night in seperate dorms, before moving on Sunday morning to a double room for the rest of the time.  Ellen spends the afternoon catching up on sleep but I am too excited, and knowing I couldn't nod off even if I wanted to I head into Asakusa and explore.  Despite having more than its fair share of gift shops it has a much older feel to it than the rest of Tokyo (more like I imagine Kyoto to be like) and some great temples and shrines, most famously the oldest one in the city - Senso-Ji.  I also manage to fill up with both cash from the post-office and the ubiquitous yet cheap and filling curry-risu before picking Ellen up for a hot date in the local Tempura joint.  We walk the streets slowly in the dark, still marvelling at being here, and idly discuss plans for the coming days whilst turning back towards our new temporary home and a proper night's sleep for the first time in ages.

Or so I thought.  I introduce myself to the other hostel guests milling around in the communal areas and pretty quickly find myself in a political-ecomonic discussion with a chap who is Japanese-Chinese-Australian-English but who allies himself to Hong Kong where he has spent most of his life.  This is a fatal scenario, as anyone who knows me will tell, as I am hopelessly easy to draw in to these kind of discussions and pretty soon I was firing out my paranoid conspiracy theories and extolling the virtues of communism with gusto.  At 2-ish I find some will-power from somewhere and hit the dorm - blissfully peaceful but worryingly empty: I know this place is booked up for the night and this means the other guys are going to come in later, probably just as I'm nodding off.

I'm just nodding off when the door goes and a young American tentatively asks "Anyone in?".  "Yes." "Mind if I put the light on for a second?" "Not at all, please feel free." Becasue I'm sooo English. "3 Japanese girls are due to come here for more conversation in a minute - I didn't think anyone had turned in yet.  Would you prefer it if I rearranged?" "Nooo, of course not, go ahead.  I can sleep through most situations."  Oh yes, nice going Andy.  You show 'em who's boss.

Silence for a minute or so, which I use to try and drift off before things pick up.  Then, "I know what you mean man.  When my folks divorced the old man gave me a cardboard box to sleep in, in the living room out of the kindness of his heart.  From 5 till I was 15."  "Ah", I buy some time, "that must have given you an interesting perspective on life then".  Great stuff Andy, sincillating conversational abilities again then.  I open my eyes just in time to see 2 more staring right back at me from very close range, "Bi-polar now, since 12.  No medication though, I don't need it becasue I use mind techniques."  Are you quite sure about that, dude?  I sigh, resigned to sharing the night with a fairly unstable yet engagingly aggresive yank and curse myself for now having the Grand Old Duke of York going round and round in my head ('and when they were up they were up...').

Presently we are joined by 3 Japanese girls who do a great line in giggling, whispering to each other and trying to form essentially one single 3 bodied  but 1 minded entity.  Some Japanese flies by and Tyler proclaims that the girls think I am cute.  This bolsters the ego nicely as I try again to drift off, before the girls feel that more needs to be added. "Yes, real cute.  You remind them of an extra in a movie".  Ah wonderful, an extra in a movie.  What a heady pinacle, how will my ego ever come back down to earth?

Tyler is clearly on the pull and kicks off in style; "We'll play a game - I'll say something I haven't done, and then if you have done it you have to raise your hand.  Everyone gets a turn then its back to me."  Smooth work friend, I mean, you couldn't pull a rotten tooth out of a dead horse's head with that one (Thanks Lister). "Andy, wake up, you're in.".

Some truly awful rounds pass when it starts to dawn on Tyler that things are not going his way.  Even if this were not a truely wretched game the Japanese psyche is just not geared up to dealing with it on account of a distict fear of open and frank emotianal exchanges and confessions with deranged foreigners.  Happily Tyler changes tack; "I have never had sex with a man".  He's looking at me and grinning.  I have my eyes closed but I know he is looking at me and grinning. "Do you want to put your hand up, Andy?" "No thanks.  I really am very tired now as I'm sure my GIRLFRIEND is and shall bid you all good night".  Eyeshade clamped down, back turned, try to wish either myself or the paranoid delusional elsewhere.

Next round carries on without me, and Tyler's voice kicks in a little harsher than before; "I have never strangled anyone in their sleep...".   OK, so who needs sleep?  I fancied a night of quiet contemplation and wary vigilance anyway.  The Japanese girls get the idea that things are not going swimmingly in the room and make their exit as I reconfirm my quest for sleep.  "Fine.  I'm going downstairs for a while".  Door closes, eyeshade off, light on, book out to take my mind elsewhere.

With an air of inevitability about 1 minute later Tyler  swings open the door and flourishes an accusatory "So, sleeping soundly I see?" "For some reason I couldn't relax, Tyler.  No idea why".  Anyway he proves to be magnanimous in his lack of either reprimands or strangulations and we manage to get onto a topic that is his passion - animation.  The details are boring but I am only too happy to be on a topic that soothes and interests the guy, and he happily talks the hind leg off the proverbial donkey for a time.  Around about half 3 I attempt a contribution, to which he barks "look, its really late and I need to be up in the morning so can we just can it? Goodnight".

I am just dozing off, round 4ish, when the door swings open and the Luton guy I had met earlier, and who had displayed absolutely no signs of creative ability or particular intelect of any kind as he lambasted the locals, makes an apearance.  So it was surprising to see him dive into his duvet and withdraw a Ukelele on which he produced a brief ditty of exquisite beauty and skill.  Hugely surreal experience in its context especially with such sleep deprivation, but gorgeous nonetheless.  He reinforced the old adage about books and covers, and indeed on subsequent days proved to be highly erudite, intelligent, amusing and passionate about Japan.  That night he left with as much immediacy as he arrived and I wondered whether I had dreamed the episode; attempt number 4 or 5 to grab sleep and all was looking promising.

At 5 the door creaks and a mediteranean voice whispers, "Anyone up?".  "Yes, just dozing".  "Sleep well.".  A chap with manners, how refreshing.  He tippytoes around in the dark arranging himself on his bunk when Tyler chirps "Hi Rod, keep it down will you?".  "Aha!  The Americain Bastardo!" roars the Spaniard, leaping up and punching the light switch on with much gusto. "Trying to sleep, Tyler?".  To and fro went rallies of insults, typically creative on the part of the latino and expectedly boorish by the American (if you want to insult someone properly you just have to be medditeranean, I think).  Some how, in the midst of this chaos Morpheus claims me and I sleep a blissful, beautiful 4 hours before waking up to a room of semi-corpses, like a child on Christmas day ready to play in Tokyo, and leap out of bed wishing everyone a very happy morning at the top of my voice.  Not well recieved, thankfully; oh sweet revenge, how it was worth the wait!

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Warning - badly written due to sleep deprivation, but what an excellent whirlwind!  We have spend an amazing few days coming down from Asahikawa on Hokkaido island and have now reached Tokyo, tired, elated, and full of very fond memories.

We hitched from Asahikawa to Sapporo on Tuesday 29th in good time, fetching up at the flat our HC host Ken shares with his parents - all of whom spoilt us with the most unbvelievable kindness.  Ken took us around local areas, including a Shinto shrine, and helped Ellen understand about vegetarian things in supermarkets.  His mother  fed us until bursting (Gengis Khan BBQ) and  took us the next day to the rather impressive Hokkaido Village - a collection of 60+ old buildings charting Hokkaido's history and culture in terms of archaeology all set next to a beautiful forest thatwe walked in too.  That evening the family took us to a sushi restuarant where I tried most things, including the very weird sea urchin ovary - not something I had imagined ever eating!  It was quite nice actually, but a bit pasty.  For noe of these (quite expensive) things were Ellen and I allowed to pay, and believe mewhen I say that really did try, such is the beautiful generosity of this family.  To cap it all we were set to leave the next day (Thursday) by simply walking the kilometre or so to the express-way interchange - easy - when the dad insisted on taking us 'a short way to a more convenient spot'.  2 hours later we were eating the packed lunch that the mum had sent us off with in the shadow of a new volcano (started erupting 1948) and an hour or so later we had been taken to 2 very beautiful calderas in the Iburi-Shiko area.  Finally we were dropped off a long way along our express-way and the hitch to the ferry was simple.  I still cannot believe the startling - shock inducing generosity of these people and how it is rooted so firmly in their nature.  It has been an overwhelming experience and one full of great times - ellen was shown some of the mum's kimono, and given a beautiful silk scarf, and Ken our host had amazing tales to share from his recent 4 year hitch-hike around Asia and Africa.

The ferry from Hakodate to Aomori onHonshu island was quiet, dropping us in at midnight.  We slept comfortably and safely in the terminal building and were up for the long hitch (Still 600+ kms to go to Tokyo) at 7.  Despite one depressing stop atthe beginning of the expressway where we were moved on by the police (and back again by ourselves!), waited 3 hours for a ride, and got stuck in rain, we were very lucky to have a series of long fast rides that ended up in Tokyo at midnight.  Wow - feeling more than ever like a hick from the sticks driving through Tokyo at night is an awesome experience - Bladerunner come to life.  Layer upon layer of roadways ontop of each other, with the tips of some buildings just peeking up by the side of the road while others soar so high into the sky the tops are barely visible.  A million tiny lights describing a monsterous, wonderful human beehive on a scale that is too huge for me to contemplate - endless to all intents and purposes.  A place that defies and defiles nature to such an extent that I should loathe it but of course I am once enraptured in this living jewel.  The very lovely lady who picked us up from the service area outside the city now gives us a a guided tour of central Tokyo (including a letter to present at a particular tempura bar to ensure highest service and quality!) as she looks for the destination I randomly mentioned as somewhere to go, and finding it drops us outside it: a fantasy playground for Andys.  This place is about as central in Tokyo as can be.  It is an internet cafe and manga comics centre.  Each terminal is in a private booth containing the computer and a couch, to sleep on if wanted.  It is cheap to stay all night - about 6 quid for the first 5 hours and 2 each hour after, and so in this most expensive of cities we have somehow managed to find very budget accomodation in an unorthadox but quite splendid fashion.

Now it is close to 4 a.m. and I am signing off exhausted but radiantly happy, and very excited about exploring further tomorrow!

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In the UK I got a definate feeling that Japanese gardening is all refined and restrained topiary and bonsai with nary a flower to be seen.  At least on Hokkaido I can say, well, shout: THIS ISN'T TRUE! 

There are more flowers here the whole of Russia, it seems.  (Russia, to be fair, has the monoploy on veg.)  Here, not only are there fields of stupendous colour, as in the photos of Furano, but every outdoor space that has a sniff of soil has a complement of vulgar colour combinations, often cartoon pink cosmos with minature-sun marigolds and pajama-striped petunias.  There are exquisitely formed trees in gardens, with arched and rounded boughs, and cushions of green foam on the ends, like oh-so-elegant hatracks.  But you can be sure that around their bases there is a riot of lilies and boisterous bedding totally removed from the traditional view of the traditional Japanese garden.

If there is a couple of inches of space in front of a townhouse, there will be pots of oleander, crevices of campanulas, staked and precious oriental and turkscap lilies, ubiquitous cosmos, and friendly sunflowers bowing to the street.

The countryside up to Asahi-dake was a beautiful late season show of gold Rudbeckias, frothy knotweed and delicate tall grasses, showing to perfection how these three work together against a backdrop of green bamboo and mountains.  I am getting so much planting inspiration from seeing familiar plants in their native environments, combinations that just work, so effortlessly and elegantly, it seems, hmmm, natural.

So far I have been thwarted in my plans to photograph  many of these delights, but I am sure as I travel I will manage to record some for your edification.

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We went up a volcano today!  I've never seen one before and it was amazing, with smoke shooting out of it and everything (see piccies in the gallery).  We caught a bus out to the biggest mountain in Hokkaido, Asahidake (not massive by any means but satisfyingly pointy), and travelled part way up by cable car, which again I've never done before and which adds another string to our 'how many forms of transport can we travel by on this trip' bow.  We walked around part of it, near the top but not reaching the summit due to poor choice of footwear ("I'm going up a mountain today.  I know, sandals will be just the thing").

We even managed to hitch back to Asahikawa despite there being practically no cars about, thus saving us hefty bus fares which I promptly spent on espresso.  Hurrah!  The plan is to rest up tomorrow, and maybe even the day after, and then hitch to Sapporo (south of here and the fun-lovin' capital of Hokkaido) on our way to Honshu Island (Toyko, Kyoto).