Tokyo, Japan
My friend Javier (who is from Venezuela but is doing graduate work in Japan) met us at the Narita airport and took us in to Tokyo for our 30 hour stop over. When we arrived in Tokyo we felt as if we had traveled in to the future. The city and its citizens are so orderly, elegant, and high tech. Everyone looks so well kept and stylish (Rob and I were likely the worst dressed people in the city.) Tokyo is the most incredibly clean city and people are totally health conscious, wearing masks to prevent the spread of illness if they have a cold or the flu. (My hypochondriac sister would love it here!) Honestly the Tokyo seems like a utopian city in a futuristic cartoon.
The order of the city however, gave me a slight feeling of unease. It was a little too perfect – where were the poor? the garbage? Surely not everyone’s life here can be so magazine perfect!? Living in Colombo is WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). Life evolves on the streets and few aspects of human existence are hidden from the general public. Rob was initially blown away by the traffic in Tokyo in that it all moved along so perfectly without anyone honking their honks (very different form Colombo). Again however I felt a bit safer in Colombo where there is so much chaos that drivers must constantly be on the look out for the unexpected – cows, cats, dogs, stupid tourists looking the wrong way, cars driving in the wrong direction, etc. Here in Japan everything is so structured and rule based that I doubt if drivers are on the look out for anything out of the ordinary.
It was a beautiful day in Tokyo but totally freezing (2 degrees) and I was so cold in my light weight pants, jean jacket and fleece. Luckily Javier had an extra toque and lent me his gloves. We had such a great time with Javier! He took us to the high end shops where we saw beautifully decorated Christmas trees on the streets. I couldn’t believe that no one would steel the decorations (in comparison in Colombo people steel the grates in the sidewalks for scrape metal). Javier really wanted us to try Japanese food other than sushi so we went to a restaurant that served Shabu Shabu, which is a hot pot where you cook your own meet and vegetables and then the server adds noodles and you eat the broth as a soup. Then he took us on an evening cruise around the city which was incredibly beautiful, and to a mall to buy “hello kitty” merchandise for my sister.
The order of the city however, gave me a slight feeling of unease. It was a little too perfect – where were the poor? the garbage? Surely not everyone’s life here can be so magazine perfect!? Living in Colombo is WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). Life evolves on the streets and few aspects of human existence are hidden from the general public. Rob was initially blown away by the traffic in Tokyo in that it all moved along so perfectly without anyone honking their honks (very different form Colombo). Again however I felt a bit safer in Colombo where there is so much chaos that drivers must constantly be on the look out for the unexpected – cows, cats, dogs, stupid tourists looking the wrong way, cars driving in the wrong direction, etc. Here in Japan everything is so structured and rule based that I doubt if drivers are on the look out for anything out of the ordinary.
It was a beautiful day in Tokyo but totally freezing (2 degrees) and I was so cold in my light weight pants, jean jacket and fleece. Luckily Javier had an extra toque and lent me his gloves. We had such a great time with Javier! He took us to the high end shops where we saw beautifully decorated Christmas trees on the streets. I couldn’t believe that no one would steel the decorations (in comparison in Colombo people steel the grates in the sidewalks for scrape metal). Javier really wanted us to try Japanese food other than sushi so we went to a restaurant that served Shabu Shabu, which is a hot pot where you cook your own meet and vegetables and then the server adds noodles and you eat the broth as a soup. Then he took us on an evening cruise around the city which was incredibly beautiful, and to a mall to buy “hello kitty” merchandise for my sister.
posted by ~chill~ at
11:37 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home