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!

Setsubun

Hello all,

A second update today! Oh yeah! This time about the event that happened yesterday. Still recovering from my illness, my girlfriend and I went to Kashima-jinja to see the Setsubun (New Years) Celebrations. It's a very small and local temple, so the festivities were kept very small as well.

At first, there was a ceremony in the main shrine, where the young priest blessed the new year and all the invitees (mainly old geezers who gave considerable financial donations throughout the year). We were loitering around a bit and saw the number of children and parents steadily increasing.

I guess it's the same everywhere in the world where religion doesn't play much of a major role in society any more. Well, I mean, not a major part as in that the dogma isn't influencing daily life, but the traditions are kept in a modern fashion. Something like Easter.

Where I'm trying to get at is: a religious fest is always a good excuse to toss candy in the air like you just don't care! It's a time to make the kids happy and put some candy in their greedy little hands.

The weather was nice, I was high on Coca Cola and malnurishment, the atmosphere was relaxed and the air pollution wasn't too bad as well. It was a good day. A lazy Sunday.

No descriptions as well, since the pictures pretty much speak for themselves ;)

Cheers!

P.s. for those who have their worries about me: I'm doing fine now. All is well!

Tokyo from above and below

Hello all,

I've been quite ill the last few days, but today I seemed to have recovered from the trots and whatnot. 't Was no fun, but I managed to pull through and live another day.

Anyway, let's forget that. 've been out and about in town with a few friends from the Netherlands, hence me visiting the two places described in this blogpost. Not two places I'd visit on my own... So, let's talk about one of the highest towers in the world! The Tokyo Sky Tree. I've been on it and hot damn, it's high! I

I'll spare you the technical details, since I presume you (the reader) is capable enough of using the Googles. If not, why are you even online? It's a high motherfucker and I think I've never been on such relative heights in a building before. You know, there are mountains I've climbed that were higher and had houses on it, making those places even higher (maybe even twice or thrice as high), but the Sky Tree is something different.

Tokyo isn't a place with many tall buildings, as you can see from the pictures, and if there are any, they are concentrated in certain areas. like Shinjuku, Tokyo-Chiyoda, etc. This makes the Sky Tree stand out from the rest of the city and makes up for a great view of the city and more!

For me, the most interesting part was, of course, checking out the railway lines that crawl around the densely packed neighbourhoods.

After the Sky Tree, we went for a lunch near the tower, since I wanted to support one of the surrounding shops, rather than having a meal in the mall of the tower itself. It was a rather splendid lunch as you can see.

During digestion, laziness struck and we took a Tobu train to Asakusa, just across the river, and visited the famous Senso-ji. You know, that temple with the massive lantern in front of it. You've probably heard of it.

Concluding our day, we went out to visit Akihabara by the hyper-modern Tsukuba-Express. Two stations for ¥200! That's damn expensive! I'll probably never use the Tsukuba-Express again...

Today no descriptions on the picture-hover-overs, since I'm in a lazy lazy mood. Plus, they pretty much speak for themselves.