Day 54: 24 May 2009

LOCATION: TOKYO (GINZA, EBISU, HARAJUKU, IKEBUKURO)
MOOD: TYING UP LOOSE ENDS
LISTENING TO: EMINEM – HELLO

THE POWER OF THE DOLLAR:

Given my relative lack of accomplishments the previous day I decided to use today to hit a number of the sights that I had missed during my last two trips. It was a Sunday, so I decided to start my day in Ginza. Ginza is Tokyo's answer to Park Avenue, and while shopping is good all over the city there's a certain prestige (snobbiness?) that comes with dolling out the dosh in Ginza. The pulling power of this upmarket shopping district is evident from the fact that on Sunday mornings they actually cordon off the entire main street in Ginza so that the Isla Fishers of Japan can cross from shops on one street the those on the other with ease. The stores themselves are pretty much the usual suspects, but the scene of hundreds of shoppers eagerly buzzing from window to the next made for some nice photos.

We couldn't talk overpriced brand names without an Apple store.

How very Japanese: Despite being able to walk anywhere on the road, people are still choosing to use the pedestrian crossing.

This was a nice shot. Very 'I Am Legend'.

RAIN ON MY PARADE:

The next stop on my list was Ebisu, a similarly upmarket part of town that was a couple of subway stops away. Given my complete brand illiteracy there wasn't really that much to interest me apart from the price tags, so I walked through Ebisu to neighbouring Harajuku. The last time I went to Harajuku I had intended on getting photos with the cosplay crews that gather at the bridge near Harajuku station, but as I had come on a Saturday rather than a Sunday turnout had been pitiful. I was determined to do better this time.

I don't think this place is ever not crowded.

Luckily the rain hadn't stopped the cosplay kids from coming out. Well, not all of them at any rate.

As I approached the bridge it started raining, but luckily for me that hadn't stopped the cosplay kids. The turn out was still pretty poor, but it was around three or four times what it had been the previous time so I was pretty satisfied with that. Most of them weren't primping and posing; instead they were huddled in groups chatting and checking out each others' costumes. In fact, I soon found out that they were purposely shutting out the tourists by turning their backs to the cameras. One of them even shot me a dirty look when I asked her if I could take a photo, and a pair of white tourists copped some verbal abuse from a homeless guy who the cosplay girls had apparently befriended.

Ahh, being rejected by a bunch of overdressed kids. It's like high school all over again.

Not everybody was decked out in black. Some were more adventurous.

And then there's always that one guy that takes things too far. Incidentally, I'm pretty sure he was there last time I went as well. Apparently he doesn't have much to do on weekends.

"Did you bring my My Chemical Romance CD?"

The homeless guy in the pink t-shirt kept on yelling 'No photos! No photos!' in Japanese and making an X with his forearms. The first thing that popped into my head was 'No Deal!'

All in all, with the rain getting heavier and the relative unsociable attitude of the cosplay kids I was considering leaving when I bumped into Ryan. He had come for the same purpose that I had, and had been wandering through the crowds with his massive digital SLR for about ten minutes before I ran into him. I accompanied him for a bit while he tried to get some good shots and we had a short discussion on why the kids were being so camera shy. Ryan defended them, arguing that they had the right to meet in public without being subjected to a barrage of tourist cameras. This made sense to me, but it just struck me as common sense that if they didn't want to be photographed they shouldn't meet at an iconic location out in broad daylight. The bridge where they gather is right next to Yoyogi Park and one of the most important shrines in Tokyo (the Meiji-Jingu shrine), meaning that there are plenty of tourists passing by there anyway.

Some people were getting love, just not me. Again, just like high school.

I think this was the only front-on shot I managed to get all day. Ambush photography FTW!

Well, to be honest not all the cosplay kids were averse to photography. The couple of okamas (crossdressers) they had there were more than willing to oblige, but I decided to save the space on my SD card. Ryan hadn't had lunch yet so we went hunting for some cheap food and ended up at a nearby Wendy's. As it turns out American Wendy's is a fast food joint in the same vein as Burger King and McDonalds, which was a little bit weird for me given that Wendy's in Australia is a desert place.

JAPANESE HISTORY X:

Ryan didn't really have any plans for the rest of the afternoon so he decided to tag along with me as I went to my next couple of stops. The next place on my list was a doubleheader – the Budoukan stadium and the infamous Yasukuni Shrine. The two are just across the road from each other.

The Budoukan (meaning 'Martial Arts Hall') was originally built for the Tokyo Olympics to hold (you guessed it) martial arts events, but since it has become an all purpose stadium that in addition to hosting numerous sporting events is also a major concert hall. A lot of young hopeful bands will play short live sets on the steps of the Budoukan hoping to sell a few CDs and attract the attention of music industry figures. We took a couple of snaps of the hall and were considering going in (there was some sort of high school martial arts tournament on), but we decided that it was better to see a few more sights.

The entrance to the Budoukan. I can imagine lining up for a big show at night; would be an awesome atmosphere.

The Budoukan. No amateur bands playing today, so the only thing we could hear was the sound of teenagers beating the crap out of each other.

Crossing over the street we stepped into the Yasukuni shrine, the much pilloried shrine to Japan's war dead that causes an international incident every time the Japanese prime minister goes there to pay his respects. The main bone of contention (apart from the perceived honouring of Japan's militaristic past) is that there are a number of Class-A war criminals entombed within the complex, meaning that it is impossible for the PM to pay his respects to Japan's service men and women without also being seen to open up old wounds dating from WWII.

The much more ominous entrance to Yasukuni.

Almost on cue, as we crossed the road the sky became overcast to set the mood.

The warrior spirit lives on.

The actual shrine complex is not that remarkable, but it has become a hotbed for right wing zealots whose presence (sometimes intrusive) shrouds the entire place in an intense aura. They arrive in black vans painted with nationalist slogans and boasting loud speakers that blare right wing ideology, but luckily on that day they were content with taking over the local tea house and looking menacingly at any foreigners that passed by. I waited until I was a fair way off and hiding behind a pole to take a photo of them using my zoom lens. Ryan (who's white) was too reluctant to take pictures at all. We approached the main hall but it appeared that we weren't allowed to enter, and by this time I think neither of us really wanted to see what was inside badly enough to investigate further.

This is as far in as we were willing to go. There's a threshhold that we were standing on which we weren't willing to cross.

These guys had a lot to do with it. I just kept picturing that infamous curb-stomping scene from American History X.

EAST MEETS WEST (AND GETS CONFUSED):

The next stop on my list was Ikebukuro, referred to unflatteringly by my Lonely Planet guide as Shinjuku's 'poor cousin'. According to the guide the main attractions were the two towering department stores that flanked the station, Seibu and Tobu. The ironic thing is that Seibu (meaning Western Division) is on the east of the station while Tobu (Eastern Division) is on the western side. Ryan and I also had the strange experience of looking for and not being able to find a vending machine in Ikebukuro station. As anyone who's been to Japan will tell you, vending machines are literally everywhere, and this was in the middle of a major station in Tokyo.

There isn't actually any way to cross between the two shopping centres overland; you have to use the underground pathways or go around the station.

That notwithstanding Ikebukuro was actually a lot more fun than the guide made out. There aren't many blue chip sightseeing spots but it's a really nice place to hang out, check out clothes and eat. We did a little bit of everything, stopping by a local performing arts centre before heading to what was billed as a Gyoza Stadium. Gyoza are fried meat dumplings and, in this writer's humble opinion, delicious. This place apparently had all these Gyoza stalls packed into a single place, each eagerly competing for your business. Even though it was hard to find we were still excited to go until we arrived and saw it had a 3000 yen entry price. To put that in perspective, 3000 yen is enough to eat three good quality meals.

It's nice to get a little open space every now and then. This was the boulevard outside the performing arts centre.

Take the space while you can - it'll be gone soon enough.

The gyoza-stadium, NamjaTown. Brought to you, if I remember correctly, by Namco. The range of corporate endorsements and sponsorships in Japan is mind-boggling.

The trip wasn't a complete loss though as we got to check out the nearby Toyota showroom where they had a number of new models on display (including a large section spruiking the new Prius), driving simulators (which ran GT4) and a few safety demonstrations. We also found a couple of really nice clothes shops nearby where Ryan wandered around wide-eyed, repeatedly telling me that it was impossible to find these sorts of clothes back in the States. By this point it was starting to drizzle and we were both pretty worn out, so we headed back to the hostel.

I'm not sure what an auto salon is, but I'm sure it's good.

Now THIS is what I came to see: the new Prius! I can feel my testosterone levels rising just looking at it.

I was never good at any car games. At least none that didn't allow you to shoot rockets/turtle shells/bombs at other competitors.

Ryan in a reflective moment.

THE RUBBER BAND THEORY:

I've had a funny experience with weather in Japan. With the exception of the first night I've only been caught in the rain once, and that was when I was in Fukushima with Henry, so we had a car to run to. A number of times I'd been menaced by overcast skies and low-hanging clouds, but my umbrella purchases always seemed to be in vain. I say 'purchases' plural because I usually ended up absent mindedly leaving umbrellas at the hostel after I checked out because they require you to leave your umbrella in the main foyer. Somehow or other I had always managed to skip out of town before it actually started raining. One of these days I'm going to dig into the archives and map the weather fronts against my travel route. This being the case, after pretty much two months I was due for a bit of bad luck. Pull the rubber band far enough and eventually it'll snap.

Ryan and I got back to the hostel and were checking out e-mail in the ground floor lobby when we struck up a conversation with an Aussie kid from Perth who had just finished up a uni exchange in the Kansai region and had come to Tokyo for a short break before heading home. None of us had eaten yet, so on Ryan's recommendation we went to a restaurant near Kaminarimon (the place where I had stayed during my initial trip to Tokyo). This was a walk of about six or seven city blocks, which wasn't so bad in the cool night air. However while we enjoyed steaming bowls of ramen we didn't notice that the rain was starting to sheet down.

I was the only one with an umbrella, seeing as I had since bought a compact one and kept it with my backpack, which I in turn took everywhere I went. Initially the other two were all gung ho about not wanting to share the umbrella but after about two blocks and an increase in the intensity of the rain we were all huddling under the one umbrella like the spineless pencil-necks we were. This worked for about another two blocks before the rain became so intense that continuing with the current set up was completely out of the question. We found shelter under an overpass and had to decide whether to send one of us back to the hostel to get the others' umbrellas (around 2 blocks away), or send someone to the convenience store about a block back to buy some new umbrellas. After much deliberation I eventually returned ten minutes later with three umbrellas in hand. I think we all did a load of laundry that night.