Japan 1: Tokyo

Tokyo is an enormous and highly varied city.  In parts of Tokyo, if you ignore the street signs you feel like you could be in any wealthy Western city.  But most of it fulfills the North Amercian idea of the city as being at once futuristic and anachronistic.  Highrises and animated LED signs are shoulder-to-shoulder with paper lanterns and kawara-tiled roofs.  Simple wooden shrines are nestled in alcoves in the outside of multi-story department stores.

All this is in the central parts of the city, which are busy and crowded.  Yet they contrast sharply with other parts of the city that in many places are just a few minute's walk away.  Cross a bridge from busy downtown Asakusa and you may find yourself in Sumida ward, where the narrow streets are lined with miniature gardens of potted plants and a strange silence pervades.  The hostel where I stayed was situated here.  This contrast, between quiet serenity and riotous modernity, was another of those that characterized my experience of Tokyo.

After a week I still felt as though I'd only scratched the surface of this city.  I'd only seen one or two of the notorious Harajuku kids (though on the street and in train stations I did pass one or two girls in elaborate goth-loli dress).  And apart from walking in on a performance by a local gypsy-jazz duo at the bar near the hostel one serendipitous evening, I hadn't gotten to enjoy any of the city's jazz scene, which I'm told is as vibrant and varied as Tokyo itself.  So I've decided to return for another week once I've visited the other parts of Japan I planned to go to.  I'm glad I held off on buying my ticket to Singapore, giving me the flexibility to extend my stay in Japan.

Am I missing anything?  Hanging around the club district in Shibuya around Halloween was a lot of fun.  Other than that, the specifics of my time in Tokyo are mostly documented in my two photo albums that I've linked below (if you've got me on Facebook you'll already have seen them).

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152016831060879.1073741833.514945878&type=1&l=2cc81a4379
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152030145070879.1073741834.514945878&type=1&l=613cd37e93

Next time, my account of Kamakura and Kyoto!