Hostile Traveler

I returned home Saturday night after a remarkably uneventful trip (for once). No engine explosions, vomit, or crazy naked Asian chicks. Just a nice easy 13 hour flight and 13 hour time difference, so I basically landed at the same time I took off. Now if that doesn’t cause your system to freak out, I don’t know what will. As a result, I’ve spent the time since sleeping at random, including a 15+ hour stretch when I got home. Hopefully I normalize by tomorrow.

Waking up yesterday (admittedly at 4pm) to an inch of sleet and torrential rain alternating was a treat. After experiencing the cherry blossoms and the beginnings of Spring in Japan coming home to a wintry mix was not a pleasant experience. Isn’t it supposed to be spring? WTF?

Well, let’s get caught up on the events since I last wrote. Thursday night was pretty much covered, so lets start with Friday, where I decided that I needed to get my culture on and go to see something old. In a city so obsessed with the new, this is sometimes not an easy task. Not to mention the whole bombing thing in WWII, but we’ll leave that alone. I’m all culturally sensitive and stuff. Yeah.

So, first order of business - lunch. Should have been breakfast, but Thursday was a late night and I’m not much of a morning person. The nice thing about eating in restaurants in Japan is that most of them have a display case outside that contains plastic versions of their dishes. They’re amazingly lifelike, and all you need to do is drag the waiter outside and point to get something similar on your table. So far, I’ve been lucky to not find any hidden tentacles - they usually put those in plain view.

Couple of other random pics from my wanderings. The maid cafe thing has generated some comments and emails, so I wanted to put up this giant store dedicated to uniforms called M’s, found in Akihabara. I wasn’t kidding when I said that the Japanese take their fetishes very seriously. Oh, and beware if you decide to visit the website on the sign.

One final bit of Engrish that may or may not be intentional - some shirts being sold at a vendor in Asakusa.

My wanderings on Friday took me to what is one of the oldest parts of Tokyo, called Asakusa. Here, you don’t find any glass skyscrapers or neon overload, but instead, mostly older buildings and temples. It’s a less hectic area to walk around in, which was a nice break from the downtown areas of the city.

The main reason I came to this section was to see the Sensoji Temple and its surroundings. To get there, look for Kaminarimon Gate, under which hangs a giant red lantern.

I didn’t realize this at the time, but under the lantern is the Japanese version of Kenny Rogers.

After passing through the gate, you wind up on Namsite street, which is lined on both sides by vendors selling traditional tourist crap - kimonos, cheap swords, masks, and so on. There are, however, some nice things amongst all the crap, but you have to look a little bit harder while fighting through the crowds. There are also a lot of food vendors selling freshly-cooked pastries, rice cakes, and so on. The smell is heavenly, which I suppose, is fitting for a temple area. This time of year is when the cherry blossoms are in bloom, so everything is done up with a cherry blossom motif. And, if you look closely, Kenny Rogers-san is following me…

In light of my recent uneventful flight and my desire to change my travel karma, here are a couple of Buddha from 1687. That’s all. No wise-assed comments. Really.

Paper lanterns hung outside of the temple. If anyone can translate, feel free. I just thought they looked nice.

There’s a five-story pagoda outside of the main temple building that was built much later, but still impressive.

This is Sensoji Temple itself, which is (I believe) the oldest temple in Tokyo, built in the seventh century, though I’m not sure to what degree the building is original. It’s really quite nice, and is still in use judging by the monks wandering around.

I finally got to see a Rickshaw after all of these trips to Asia. Okay, it’s not that impressive. I dunno…I just would feel bad having a guy haul my big foreign ass around town.

….and that’s it for the pics. Friday night I spent a bit of time in Shibuya doing the Times Square-on-steroids thing, then went out for dinner at a yakitori place for some grilled meat. Early night in general because I was flying the next day.

Incidentally, if you’re ever visiting Tokyo, be sure to give yourself plenty of time to get to the airport - about 2 hours should be fine. Basically, there are three ways - a $200 taxi ride, a $40 bus ride that stops at every freaking hotel in the city, or a $35, 1 hour Narita Express train trip, but you have to get to Tokyo Station first. Oh, and because it’s the JR (Japan Rail) line, good luck figuring it out - English is sorta optional for most of the signage.

And now I’m back. I’ll work on getting the galleries updated soon. Kinda like the ones from Australia and Hong Kong that I haven’t put up yet. Someday…