21 days of travel through Asia – part I

At first you think, these couple of hours until Tokyo will pass you by quickly, but after a few of them you can hardly wait to feel solid ground under your feet. With some luck (having the seat next to you empty) you can enjoy just a bit more comfort, otherwise you’re doomed to find new imaginative ways of fitting your body into the ever shrinking airplane seat. And just when the seat shrinks down to its smallest possible variation, the plane lands and sets you free. But travelling to the Far East, to the land of the rising sun, you have to take that into consideration as well.

A land full of mystique and culture invites you to explore it on your own. It’s a land of warm and friendly people, always willing to help and happy to lend you a hand and through it practice their English. A land that takes you in the old world of geishas,  kimonos, long black hair, exotic eyes, full of elegance, mystery, charm and beauty. The world of mighty warriors and samurai, who crave this beauty. This is Japan! It’s a true paradise to travel to and learn their culture through tradition and heritage, present in many temples, torii gates, museums and elderly residents, who still live in their traditional way.

After a long flight and an empty MP3 battery, we landed on the runway to see the »Welcome to Japan« sign and some typical tourist photos. The first contact you have with Japan tells you this is a very clean country. Using their toilet just further convince you that the photos you get on your mail, are not that far fetched.

The airport Rita, east of Tokyo, and only half an hour away from its centre by subway, was our entry point. The idea to drive to Harajuku station and take a walk through the Yoyogi Park in order to reach our hostel Yoyogi certainly didn’t seem to be a bad one. But seeing the unpaved path through the park and having to lug our luggage all the way through the quiet city park made you feel like a real out-of-place tourist. The sounds of silence is overwhelmed by the sounds of rattling suitcases being dragged along the paths. It was a cause of laughter for many people passing us by, and we had to laugh at it too. 

We felt like panzers charging through the beautiful part right to the shrine of Meiji Jingu, the most popular shrine in Tokyo and a perfect shelter from the noise and haze of the metropolis. The shrine is dedicated to emperor Meiji and his wife, empress Shoken, who loved to visit it prior to their deaths in 1912 and 1914. It’s mostly built from Japanese cypresses, which are considered to have the best wood in Japan. It has an inner and outer garden, where the inner garden presents the centre of the shrine itself. In the outer garden is the gallery with a collection of 80 huge frescos, representing the events from the life of the emperor Meiji and his wife. The outer part also has sport objects and the national stadium, which gives you the feeling it’s the centre of Japanese sport. Here you can find the Meiji Memorial Hall, used for traditional Shinto weddings. It’s a perfect place to se a traditional Japanese wedding with brides wearing their beautiful kimonos. I tried to put myself into their shoes, but noticing with my sneakers I didn’t quite succeed. I haven’t quite realized yet, I’m in the Far East and surrounded by its mighty culture. It was my first cultural encounter with Japan and everything beautiful that was about to follow.

The Youth Hostel Yoyogi is in the National Olympic youth centre Memorial on the very edge of the Yoyogi park. The youth centre was dedicated to Olympic games in 1965 and is has been, ever since, run by the ministry of education, science, sports and culture – used mostly for larger groups of athletes and students. Inside this centre is the Youth Hostel Yoyogi, with single rooms and joined bathrooms. It’s the perfect base point for exploration of the city, for it is no more then 30 minutes away from any major touristic point of Tokyo. You can find more information about the Youth Hostlu Yoyogi HERE.

Tokyo, with one tenth of Japanese population, has over 8 million people. Usually they call it the Tokyo metropolis and is so big, you can not imagine it unless you see it. It’s the centre of political, economical and educational life. It became the capital only in 1868, but with its suburbs it forms the largest metropolitan area in the world, with some 35 million people living here. Now imagine this number.

The highway goes over the buildings and is like a snake making its way between the skyscrapers. It couldn’t be any other way, for it was built after the government realized the traffic in the city would not be possible with a highway leading through it. The highway was built above the old road, which is going between the business buildings, banks and luxurious stores. But when the rush hour hits, it will take you a while to get through.

You might be wondering where this mass of people earns its livelihood. The buildings are so close to one another, that there are not only next door, but also next window neighbours, for the windows are so close to one another, you might visit somebody through it. But in the case you’re not looking in your neighbour’s plate, then the metro will be passing your window every few moments.

You allow the streets of the city to soak you in and finally feel how big the world really is and how tiny you actually are in the mass that surrounds you. It’s somewhat eerie, but you get use to it. Everybody’s going on at their own phase and with their own thoughts, passing thousands of people and thousands auras along the way. Every individual contributes to this motion as soon as they step on the street and goes with this flow. The Japanese are very hard-working, we might even say workaholics. Their working day lasts from the morning late into the evening, which is linked with their culture and tradition, which is know for the hard work, discipline and loyalty, which are all still respected. In the evening when they are returning home, the metro is full of black business suits, hiding white shirts with black ties. Every now and then you get to see a tight black dress hugging a tiny body of a Japanese business woman. Personally I wouldn’t find enough appropriate pieces of clothing in my colourful wardrobe, to go to work in Japan every day of the week. You can easily see the pupils as well, for they have uniforms as well, hurrying to their school desks. Most Japanese sleep or stare at their mobile phones while on metro. It’s a scene that keeps repeating all over the place. As a tourist you quickly stand out in this crowd and you get the feeling of being big. It’s also easy to find your fellow travellers, for they quickly stand out from the black Japanese heads. 

We took the metro to the centre and stepped off at Ginza, the most prestigious and expensive part of Tokyo, know for the shopping malls, boutiques, galleries, restaurants, night clubs, cafes…  A perfect place to have fun, if you have the money that is. Buying a flat there is not really advisable, since a square metre costs over $100.000. It’s a place where a cup of coffee costs $10 and you get to see all high rolling fashion and cosmetics branches. Visiting Ginza is recommendable over the weekends, when the central part of Chuo Dori is closed down for traffic and becomes a pedestrian zone. It reminds me of Manhattan. I haven’t bought anything there; my travelling budged simply wasn’t rich enough for something like that.

Stepping off the metro we went to the fish market Tsukiji, the most famous fish distribution market with over 2.000 tons of sea food exchanging hands daily. It’s divided into the domestic and foreign market and in the foreign market you can see the few restaurants that visitors and buyers can visit. The market are narrow streets where merchants still haggle for their goods and where the smell of raw fish becomes a part of your memory and gives you the smell of the traditional Japanese culture. We were making our way through the mass of people in the old streets, which cause headaches to the authorities, for they wish to resettle the market, claiming it doesn’t fit the modern city. Unfortunately the world is changing so quickly it’s loosing the charm of history.  After a few sips of green tea and more then just a few looks of dead fish we get to the main part of the market, a fish auction house and one of the tourist attractions. The number of visitors has risen so much in the past years, that a daily quota of visitors had to be set to 140 and even they are only allowed under strict rules, so as not to hinder the trade. You can only visit twice a day in groups of 70, and even that is in the early morning hours, that is, unless you know Teuoro. It was nice to see the many scooters and trucks hurrying among the numerous fresh fish and sea fruit merchants. Late in the afternoon you could see the working day was reaching its end, but still you could see fresh fish and huge mountains of crushed ice waiting their buyers. Many merchants have already started cleaning up the place, for it was time to have some breakfast after the rough night of work. Photo flashes were everywhere and you get to see the results of my sea food photo safari HERE.