Part Three - Friday's thoughts on Tokyo

The neatest store in Shibuya, a must see, and, possibly, one of the coolest stores in Tokyo is "Tokyu Hands" (seen left). It is run by the monolithic Tokyu department store chain, discussed earlier, and is dedicated (loosely) to everything hobbies. But in reality, anything you can't seem to find turns up here, including stuff you never new existed (that's the interesting part). I had only ever been to the Sapporo branch before, but the Shibuya store is twice as big and three times as confusing (because they kind of took three separate buildings and retrofitted them together into one big one). It's one of the cheaper stores you will find in Tokyo and there's no way anyone could walk out of there without buying something (I bought a silicon kitchen spatula for 400 Yen).

I'm a bit disapointted about the pictures I brought back. I felt I was not able to convey the rush of exciment Tokyo is known for. The pictures don't represent the cacophony of thing overwhelming all your senses. The noise of music and Japanese advertizing drench Tokyo. One picture, while typical of Tokyo, also illistates my discourgment. Below is a picture from Ueno, it gives a rought impression of the urban landerscape of Tokyo. If you focus on the raised walk-ways you can notice they look nearly empty. Most of my pictures that I tried to capture the din of Tokyo seem to have achieved the opposite, portraying the same empty, frozen feeling. In reality, standing there, the side walks are filled with people - they're all just moving. So, besides the noisy din of Tokyo, my photos fail to convey the degree of dynamic and consant movement Tokyo offers. I think there is a lot of depth to this topic but that is something to be extended upon about elsewhere.

I really love traditional Japanese cultural, and I love studying Japanese Shinto and Buddhist architecture. I can't wait to go to Kyoto to see districts that haven't been changed in hundreds of years. However, Japanese modern architecture is worthy of praise too. In the end, I love Tokyo: its safety, its character. I'm in my element when I'm there. I think it is because I was just born a post-modern child, not of my direct choice, and over-hyper-stimulas just doesn't faze me. Furthermore, I think if one's goal is to really see Japanese culture, you couldn't do better than see where most of the population lives. For most Japanese, gaint, sprawing cities is their culture (most of the population lives in five cities). I would like to add, finally, that I competely understand the sentiments of some visitors to get out of Tokyo as quickly as possible. It is not for everyboby. That many people in a constant state of motion can be overwhelming. Just look at the subway; some people probably only want to see trains that crowded in their nightmares. Standing still back at home now, while I love visiting Tokyo, I wouldn't want to live there.