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The flight was long and boring, 7 hours of flight time really sucked out all the energy from both of us. Me and my best friend Ivan couldn’t wait to come outside breathe in that warm Tokyo air and smoke a cigarette at the same time (kind of an oxymoron!). But we were in for a big surprise as soon as we got off the long “walking” escalator we went into the immigration “room” which was a huge hangar like place with a line up of around 500 people.

We waited for around 1.5 hours and were pretty disappointed by the fact that foreigners had the least amount of workers tending to them. The native Japanese had a very small line up compared to ours and were being processed much quicker than us.

Good thing we became acquainted with a Chinese girl on the plane, she was sitting next to us and I made a comment about her “derriere” to my friend saying that it looked pretty nice at that point she turned around and said “oh you guys speak Russian?”, I almost fell through my seat because of embarrassment but we soon learned that was quite friendly and very well educated. She was the type of girl that seemed to have a “hippy” mindset, the type of person that if you yell at her she wouldn’t yell back, she would probably just ignore you or feel disappointed.
I love that kind of people. In the line up she kept telling us about the different Russian poets and literature. She had an incredible amount of knowledge on the subject and even recited several poems in Russian, the time seemed to fly in her company.

When I got to the window a masked government worker glimpsed at my passport, glimpsed at me without lifting his head and made an almost rude like hand gesture: “go!”. There was no friendly greeting from him but I soon discovered he was an exception to the rule…


http://www.flickr.com/photos/acechick/473765694/in/set-72157594552862012/

We walked outside to smoke a cigarette. There was absolutely no taxis and a no smokers at all. This was the cleanest airport I’ve ever seen in my life. But we couldn’t see any ashtrays outside. It turns out that all smoking is restricted to a small smoking room. It was thick with greyish yellow smoke and had around 10 smokers inside, the missing smokers mystery was solved.

When we got back inside we headed straight for the ATM machine and got another unpleasant surprise when we discovered that our ATM Cirrus cards are not accepted in any of the Airport’s ATMs.

Good thing Ivan had some money on him so we walked outside and hailed the only cab driver that was there, he said the ride will be around 23 thousand Yen (220$ dollars), that was too much, so we started bargaining. At one point he walked away then came back with a big smile and said “ok.. ok.. final price?”, I looked at him and said 80$, he said “no no no, the bus is 80$”, so we agreed on 130$.

We walked into the parking lot which seemed to be quite far and got inside the old 80s cab, it was very clean and strangely resembled a New-York Pakistani cab. Only difference being is that everything was white, white drapes, white seat covers (that also looked like drapes) and to top it off he put on some white gloves, we felt like we were in a magical snow taxi world enjoying the most expensive taxi ride ever.

“He’s ripping us off man..” quietly muttered Ivan through his teeth. Ivan had a strange habit of speaking Russian in a very suspicious tone of voice, so if people had any doubt if we were talking about them Ivan would immediately make it very clear. In the end we discovered that Narita was extremely far away and that 130$ was actually a bargain.

The ride was very long so whomever told me that there is no traffic in Tokyo is a miserable liar. I began practicing my terrible, terrible Japanese with the Taxi driver… it was rather funny because I kept digging in my dictionary for every second word. We noticed a very interesting thing. In the traffic cars seemed to be filled with very quite, reserved and law abiding citizens. Suddenly we heard the roar of motorcycles and out came the bikes! I’ve never seen so many bikes on a high way, they were shamelessly passing between cars that were struck in traffic. Bikes ranged from regular Suzuki sports bikes to the most eccentric Harley Davidson Choppers with long “horn-line” chrome handle bars. The sheer number made me dig in the dictionary and 10 minutes later I was able to ask “is this legal?” the taxi driver laughed and said “ie, ie” meaning “no”.

View from the stairs of our hotel

We arrived in Asakusa, gave our driver a good tip and walked to check into our hotel room. That’s when we ran into our first Engrish

When we opened the door to our room we burst out laughing. This was the smallest 2 person room I’ve ever seen. At one point we made a picture of me touching the 3 main elements of the room: The toilet door with my left hand, the front door with my right hand and the bed with my foot. The Air Conditioning Unit took up almost half of the room’s ceiling and the bathroom looked like something from outer space. The whole bathroom was a pre-fabricated plastic container that was put into the corner of the room, it rose 15 inches from the floor of the room and kind of freaked me out.

“Ok let’s go man, I’m hungry…”. Thing with my best friend is that food for him is not just food, it’s a sacred process. Any time Ivan chooses a place to eat he will pace back and forth from one restaurant to the next, discuss the various advantages and disadvantages of each place, then think out loud for about 5 more minutes, then say “no I just ate Chinese 3 days ago” and finally walk into a completely random place. Trick is to say “ok let’s go to this one” at that point he’ll definetly say “ok, no not that one for sure, so let’s go here!”

julesandmichael.net/food

Anyways after about 25 minutes of walking we finally got into a peculiar looking restaurant, it looked like a 50s New-York deli with long counters and short round stools. When we got to the counter the waiter informed us that we have to order from the vending machine… At the entrance was a big dispenser like box with about 50 buttons, each had a drawing of a meal and the price. We chose the most delicious looking ones (once again I was tricked into buying the disgusting fish Hudon which I always try to avoid) and out came 2 paper checks.

When it was time to leave we couldn’t figure out how to open the door, we looked rather confused in front of this sliding door with handles. It wouldn’t open by itself and when we pulled the handles it wouldn’t open either, thankfully an old lady came from behind and PUSHED the door handle which turned out to be a button!

blog.alfiegoodrich.com

When we came outside a big smile appeared on my face. That Tokyo evening was magic. The warm humid air had an almost sweet ocean taste to it, it smelled delicious. Streets of Asakusa were lit up with a thousand lights,: Neon signs, advertising stands, cars and buildings, it all looked like a big Christmas tree which stretched for miles ahead. The sounds of friendly chatter, the “talking” traffic lights with their “walk now please!” and the usual ambient sounds of traffic mixed together in a distinctly Japanese composition. The climate was very different from what I have expected, it was much more tropical which gave the place an even more exotic feel.

I’ve been fascinated with Japan for a long time, I’ve read many articles, seen endless amounts of T.V shows and documentaries and studied the language for 4 months. So while standing on the street I felt euphoric. It’s as if I was watching my favorite band playing live in front of me…

We slowly walked back to the hotel and then I realized “oh man, but what about the money? We still can’t withdraw money from the ATMs”

The battle with my credit card company had begun.:”But I’m stranded here with absolutely no cash! What do you mean there is a general problem with all banks in Tokyo? You want to talk to my hotel clerk about a cash advance? You should get a translator because his English is not that good”  I put the poor guy on the phone and went outside to smoke a cigarette.

My German Friends

From the distance I could see 2 white guys walking towards the hotel, they were both around my age, 27, and looked distinctly  eastern European, at fist I thought they were polish. It was a very tall, big looking guy with a much shorter friend with blond hair. The tall guy looked like he’s into heavy metal , wearing old blue jeans and a black sleeveless shirt with a white dragon on the pocket. The blond guy had a very “peacock” like style, with a torn red Diesel shirt, spiked hair and some funky looking running shoes. “Well that’s an odd looking bunch” I thought to myself. As they passed in front of me I looked up at the tall guy and he gave me a friendly nod. I nodded back. The first seed of friendship had been planted…

The hotel clerk looked rather confused and kept apologizing and trying to explain that we need to wait for the manager. The whole “cash advance” didn’t sit quite right with him and quite honestly I would have thought it was a scam myself. I re-assured him that it’s not his fault and told him to forget about it.

At 4:00 am I opened my eyes. It was very dark but I could see Ivan sitting on the bed. I was so tired that I didn’t even realize I was in Japan sharing a room with Ivan, so naturally I freaked out. “What’s wrong with you man!! You freakin’ scared me! Why are you sitting on the bed like that?”. Instead of a reassuring: “No, it’s okey man I just woke up for a second” he started whispering in a mysterious voice

“Can you feel it?”

“Feel what?”

“The mosquito biting…”

“I can’t feel nothing, just go to bed…”

http://lucifer-ous.deviantart.com/

I turned to the side and realized that I was actually feeling a dozen of bites all over my body. We turned on the lights and discovered that walls were covered with around 50 small Mosquitoes. We had left the window open for some fresh air and let in these sneaky blood suckers. Thing we noticed about Japanese mosquitoes  is that they don’t make as much noise as their North-American counterparts. They do not endlessly buzz around your ears, it’s almost as if they quietly land on the floor and sneak up the bed on foot, hence we started calling them Ninja Mosquitoes.

Almost all had blood in them, so we had to clean it off the porous walls too. We went downstairs to smoke a cigarette, it was around 4:30 am.

Asakusabashi at night

We walked to the main street called “Edo”. Tokyo definetly did not look like a “City that never sleeps”. It was kinda of eerie. You could hear large crows gawking in the dark sky. Electric street lights kept commanding “Walk now!” to invisible pedestrians. The feeling of euphoria started coming back. I took another drag of my cigarette and we headed back. But not before I captured a squeaky clean garbage truck turning a corner.

But first thing’s first. “I wonder if we can smoke on those stairs”. The view from the stairs was nice. We were right next to a canal. The sides of  the canal were covered with house boats that calmy swang back and forth with the current.

View from the stairs

First thing that struck us when we opened the door was the heat. People don’t realize it, but Japan gets REALLY hot in summer. We roughly planned out the day and headed out. I flicked my cigarette butt. Felt guilty that it landed on a roof, then glimpsed one last time at the view.

one last glimpse

We went downstairs. I waited till Ivan finishes the “Good thing I had money or we’d be screwed” story, nodded in agreement and dialed back home.

We had discovered that calling cards in Japan are extremely expensive. For a 10 dollar card I got around 5 minutes of talking time. Conversation with my sister went extremely fast. “Send money now please….”. My sister sounded as if she was a stock broker taking orders from a big-shot client. She exclaimed “I’m on it! The money will be sent in 15 minutes TOPS!” When she hung up I imagined how quickly she must have ran out. Probably took a quick bite of the sandwich, quickly gulped down the coffee and ran out there door without kissing our mom good bye while putting on the coat.

We headed to Akihabara metro station which is 10 minutes away by foot. Streets in Tokyo are very interesting, especially in Asakusabashi.

Asakusabashi street

This was one of the oldest areas in Tokyo. Originally it was a red-light district (still is kinda, as we soon discovered). Along the way we saw some note worthy things. One of them was a street temple right in the middle of a pretty industrial area.

Askusabashi street temple

As we approached Akihabara the crowds started getting thicker. “Oh shit” said Ivan. He just noticed a huge influx of people crossing the street. This was our first taste of the crowded Tokyo.

It’s funny how quickly a western prejudice can disappear. Japanese weren’t all small and skinny. The crowd in front of us had all shapes and sizes. Some Japanese men were almost as tall as me (i’m 189 cm). I also found them to be more stylish.

It’s funny how in every street crossing you have 1 or 2 guys making their way through the crowd on a bicycle. Walking is not an option for these “performers”. They quickly wiggle the handle bar from side to side to keep the balance. At the same time they’re trying to peddle up to gain speed. They end up crossing the street like rope walkers trying to keep their balance. Never understood why they didn’t just walk.

Across the street was an interesting looking vending machine. It sold cigarettes and sported a big bald white guy. “Look he’s bald like you!” said Ivan. I guess the premise is: “Smoke and you’ll become big, bald and white”. I had to take a picture…

Tokyo cigarette stand

Ivan’s eating habits led us to McDonalds. In Tokyo McDonald’s a trio is not a trio, it’s a MENU. Prices are very similar to Canada. A disgusting Chicken Teriyaki MENU set me back 9$.

Japanese cola

Interesting fact: McDonalds garbage has separate containers for Plastics, Organics and Liquids

When we got to the metro we felt so lost.

Akihabara

There was a long wall with built in machines. On Top was a large map of JR and metro lines.

Interesing fact: There are 2 distinct transportation methods in Tokyo. JR and Metro. They can both end up at the same station. JR trains run above ground. Metro runs underground (duuh..)

Ticket prices depend on where you’re going. The further the station the more you pay.

I ended up inserting my credit card into the wrong slot. Card got jammed. A metal piece came off the machine and a girl’s face appeared. She scared me half to death. I didn’t expect to see humans behind that wall. She extracted my card and handed it back to me.

Interesting fact: A lot of metro stations have this restaurant that has good morning specials. It translates as: Life of France

vie de france

In the business district we finally withdrew our money at City bank. God bless them!

Interesting fact: City bank is pronounced “Shitty bank” in Japanese

The feel of hard cold cash was comforting. The Japanese yen is longer and wider than Canadian dollars. It’s also more like plastic than paper and harder to rip apart.

Business district looked extremely empty and even a bit depressing.

business district

business district tokyo

business district

In the Money Grams (there are No Western-Unions in Japan) there was an extremely large crowd. It was 80% African Americans, 10% Latin Americans and 10% White. While standing in the crowd I noticed how this white guy kept gawking at my camera. I threw a friendly “It’s a dead give away that I’m a tourist eh?” He switched his focus from the camera onto me.

He was around 35 years, almost bald and looked very North-American. He was also as crazy as they come, but very funny at the same time. He said his landlord’s son keeps going through his medicine cabinet…

He even confronted him in a train about it. The story was kind of violent, but he sounded like a character from “Half Baked”. While laughing out loud, Ivan would inject a quick “damn he’s crazy” remark in his laughter.

The man had a somewhat a negative view of Japan. That kind of surprised and disappointed me. Anyways, at least I’ve learned from him what “Polytoxic” means. Apperantly it’s what you become when you turn as whacky as him… and I don’t mean it in a bad way.

We bid him farewell and stepped outside. I think it was lunch break because out came crowds of salary men and women. I put my camera down and pretended that I was fixing dials. In reality I started recording. This is exactly what downtown Tokyo sounds like. Movie that captured the ambient sounds best was “Lost in Translation”. Too bad Scarlett wasn’t with us

As we walked through the park I added around 6 cigarette butts to our arsenal. There was no way I would leave my garbage here. The place was too beautiful.

Police box is right in front of the white building across the canal (this is Ivan)

Imperial Palace

Imprerial palace is… Well Imperial palace, big and spectacular. Nothing really exciting about the place, just regular sight seeing.

I was eager to get back to Akihabara. That’s where Electric City, the Mecca of Anime was located. We went back to the metro and got lost again. I knew I had to use my superior Japanese to get us out of this jam. So I walked over to the counter and… well see for your self:

Actually it went a bit different. I walked up to the counter and completely blanked out after “Sumimasen”. Ivan thought it was pretty funny. By the way the sounds in the video are very good. The Metro in Japan is just as noisy. It has lot’s of different flavors, sort of an electrical mixed salad of sound.

Electric city turned out to be several blocks. It had a lot of second hand electronics shops. Shops ranged from computers, to surveillance systems and to simple headphones.

Next to Electric City (or may be even part of it)

Next to Electric city, has an interesting look

I noticed a pretty large shop with displays of anime characters. The figurines turned out to be naked and they were all over the place. I’ve never seen anything like that. I took out the camera and started snapping away

Figurines akihabara

Figurines akihabara

An employee appeared to the left of me. “No pictures please!” This was a tragedy. I was just 3 feet away from the Sailor Moon stand (j/k).

I asked Ivan if he wanted to take the metro again. Our station is 15 minutes away by foot. “No thank you, let’s just walk”…

The sun started to come down. Aggresive heat went down. Calming humidity went up. And as the sky turned purplish/pink we started to slowly wander back to the hotel. These were 2 happy Russian guys. We lit up our cigarettes. Day’s end was just a couple of puffs away… Or so we thought! *cue for the suspenseful music*

We got off at the shibuya station. The outise of the station looked very dirty. The corners of the building were covered in bird droppings and cigarette butts. We didn’t know where the actual crossing was, so we asked a white teenager for directions. In the best of Japanese traditions she walked us almost all the way to the crossing. We were able to ask her a couple of quick questions along the way.

Ivan thought it was extremely rude when I told her “studying in a private school must be expensive eh?”

When we got to the crossing we became a bit disappointed. Wide camera lenses and good angels can do wonders to any place. Shibuya crossing looked so damn small in real life.

We crossed it a couple of times. I even asked a stranger to confirm if we’re in the right place.

Around 6 big streets merged into shibuya from all directions. They were far more interesting than the actual crossing. Shibuya was boiling with life, but only a couple of blocks away  laid the sleepy suburbia. These were very expensive houses. Traditional Japanese style homes with Ferraris and Porsche Cayennes at the entrances.

This was typical Japan. It always seemed to merge extreme contrasts. Super high-tech technology and ancient traditions. Reserved attitudes and most extravagant styles. Extreme politness and hot samurai spirits.

These expensive streets reminded me of Montreal’s West-Mount. It’s also 5 minutes away from downtown, but still hidden away from foot traffic.

The lady that greeted us looked Armenian. She was around 45 and had an unhappy look on her face.  I asked her how she liked living in Japan. She said it was “so-so”. She started naming every negative thing that came to her mind. I almost started believing her. Then I remembered how many times I’ve seen Russian Immigrants in Canada with the same story. There is simply no pleasing them.

Furthermore, she lived in Tokyo for 13 years. Her Russian home town was 40 minutes away by plane. So if she was still in Tokyo, it’s probably not all bad!

At one point she mentioned the Nationalist’s Vans. They drive around Tokyo and anounce nationalistic slogans over the megaphone. Something like: “Gaijins get out! Japan for  Japanese!” As soon as she mentioned it, one of these Vans began a live broadcast from down the street. This was amazing timing. She said: “they often come here, because the area is full of tourists”.

She stood around for another minute without saying a word. I thought to myself  “she’s probably thinking of another negative thing to say”. I was right. “Watch out for these Africans on the streets here” she said “They may invite you to a club then drug you. When you fall asleep they take your credit card and drag you outside.”

Day turned to night. Clubs started opening up across the street from us… It was time to see if her horror stories were true