12 Feb 2013

The dark side of Japan

Hello all,

The title might sound a bit depressing and may sound like I don't like it here, but it's not like that at all, so bear with me.

This weekend, me and my girlfriend went out a few times for some walks around town, to say goodbye to a good friend who was returning to the Netherlands, to buy stuff you can't get elsewhere and stuff like that.

So, on Saturday we first went on a walk from Shinjuku to Shibuya, a bit of a long walk, but we wanted to get out and do some window shopping, so this was my first time again to be around a busy place in Tokyo in a very long time. As a teenager, I was intrigued by the hustle and bustle of the places, but now, I was feeling resent.

Maybe I'm getting too old or something, but busy places don't attract me any more. If I go to a busy place -like Akihabara, it's more for the shops, rather than the atmosphere. It's fun to visit such busy places from time to time, but also very tiring and frustrating. I guess I'm more of a small-town person after all, which is why I like Sagamiono a lot.

Anyway, Shibuya wasn't that bad actually, since you can see the Ginza subway, crossing the traffic square from a lot of view points, the old Tokyu station (which is shortly being demolished), and a lot of very expensive cars driving around. I'm lucky to have a girlfriend who can appreciate the rumble of V8 engines and knows a thing or two about cars.

The following day we went out to say goodbye to a good friend of mine who was returning to the Netherlands after a 2 week holiday in Japan. We had some ramen in Akasaka, said farewell and my girlfriend and me went on a walk to Roppongi. Now, I've never visited the place before, but I heard it was a kind of 'foreigner heaven', so I avoided it like the plague. However, sometimes in life, you have to confront yourself with your biggest aversions, so we went there on foot.

Roppongi is a dirty place, I don't like it, and it's full with a special type of foreigner. I don't have anything against other foreigners in Japan, hell, that would be outrageously hypocrite of me, but I do have a thing against those people who tend to stay well in their confinement where they have no interaction with Japanese society at all. Roppongi is just the place where these kind of people tend to hang out, especially Westerners, so that kind of explains my reason to dislike the place beforehand. Preconceptions, yes indeed, but with a reason. If people want to stay in their own 'foreigner ghetto', that's fine by me, but I don't have the need to interact with that kind of culture. I'm here for the Japan of the Japanese, not the Japan of the expats and those too scared to speak the language of the country (both in a literal and figurative manner). Ah, so much hate... Let's quit while I'm ahead of myself.

Yesterday was Foundation Day (建国記念の日, Kenkoku Kinen no Hi), so my girlfriend had an extra day off. We are in dire need of some Indo cooking by yours truly, so we went out to Okubo (just a bit north of Shinjuku) to look for Kecap Manis, a sweet and thick Indonesian soy sauce, which is used a lot in Indo cooking. Here I met another of the demons of Japan.

Okubo is a place I immediately liked. It's the Asian district of Tokyo, where a lot of Chinese and Korean conduct businesses. It's dirty as well, but the atmosphere was very relaxed. Not like the more Western-oriented Roppongi at all. However, that day, the atmosphere was somewhat less relaxed than usual, I presumed. All of a sudden, we noticed riot police all over the place, especially around a local kindergarten. I quickly assumed this to be because of the national holiday and because of some kind of political rally inside of the kindergarten (which was not operating that day). The police was however not too concerned with the rally itself, as they seemed to protect the place, rather than the other way around. It all seems a bit strange to outsiders, but I was expecting to see some Uyoku cars any time soon. The Uyoku are the Japanese ultra right-wing nationalists, who have extreme views concerning the country and are a legacy of the fascist movement of the pre-WW2 era. Google will help you on your quest for more information.

Anyway, I soon spotted the first black Nissan Patrol with agressive tuning, speakers on the roof and banners with ultra nationalistic slogans. Also, I soon spotted several people with head-sets and dresses a bit too smug for the day. These could have been undercover cops, Uyoku members, or maybe neighborhood watch people. I've also spotted a few local shop owners with walkie-talkies who were keeping track of suspicious looking people. It seemed that there were three groups involved, but the public seemed not to care too much. In Okubo, we bought some amazing Kimchi and some drinks, and went to Shinjuku for some more shopping.

Ah, I almost forgot! We bought a nice rug yesterday! We don't have a rug or carpet, but we do spend a lot of time on the floor. Eating and watching TV is done on the floor, but as I write this, I also work sitting on the floor. So, tomorrow evening a new addition to the house is delivered! I'm very glad we bought a rug, since I think it won't only improve our way of living, but also add some order in the room... It's kind of messy here you know...

Cheers!

No comments:

Post a Comment