aki

[subways]:

Greater Tokyo is 239 square miles (618 square km) and is home to more than 17 Million people in the day time and 12 Million at night.

When walking from point A to point B downtown, there are often 4+ levels to choose from: street level, a level above (bridges above the street), and two or more levels of subway. The subways aren't merely entrances to train routes, but also connect to skyscraper basements and other street entrances many blocks away, so that people are able to walk under the streets to their destinations without having to enter the paid train areas.

Under each skyscraper there are restaurants and stores in the basements. Under every department store highrise there is a basement level consisting only of sweets and snacks, many freshly made that morning. These help lure the surface dwellers below.

You see, the population of Tokyo has slowly diverged as the subterranean lifestyle has become more and more self-contained: the surface-dwellers go about their business above ground, while the underground dwellers have grown pale and sun-blind, preferring to burrow in the cool, moist earth. They lure the surface dwellers below with sweets so they can hunt, culling the herd of the weak, sickly, and old so they can feast on their succulent flesh.

[shinjuku gyoen]:

We visited Shinjuku Gyoen, or Shinjuku Park, on Wednesday. Just us and several thousand of our closest friends and neighbors.

The park was in full bloom. Fifteen types of cherry blossoms, as far as the eye can see. It got a little ridiculous how many cherry blossoms there were. Apparently the blooming schedule is brief, only a couple of weeks or so, making this a rare treat, but since I had no non-blossoming context it definitely seemed like overkill.

The cult of Canon was out in full force; after a while I gave up trying to shoot around people and just started including 'em in the shot.

My allergies really started to act up around here, and I was out (bedridden) Wednesday and Thursday evenings dealing with that.

Still, despite all my bitching, I came out with some nice photos. Just goes to show, if an infinite number of monkeys armed with cameras are taking an infinite number of photographs, at least one of the monkeys will be named Aki.

[on litter and homeless]:

One of the oddities about the park was the complete absence of a) trash cans and b) litter; if you can bring something in, you can bring it out. The wind did blow a plastic bag into the lake, drawing a large murmur of disapproval from all onlookers.

Bathrooms tend not to have any paper towels. Napkins aren't necessarily guaranteed at restaurants... it's somewhat expected that you carry around your own handkerchief.

(I, of course, tote lots of Kleenex and my sleeves. Maybe I'll switch to a handkerchief one of these days.)

Any and all environmental impact is counterbalanced by the sheer number of disposable chopsticks and plastic bags that abound. However, moving to reusable chopsticks and a European-type expectation that grocery shoppers bring their own bags would not be difficult. The US definitely lags in all of these departments.

My parents are very proud at how clean Japan is, how there is no graffiti, no homeless, no litter, no crime. Then again, there's the lurking presence of Yakuza; I was able to gleefully point out some graffiti and litter in an out-of-the-way pedestrian tunnel back to Shinjuku station; and I victoriously pointed out an entire park full of napping homeless people in front of the Emperor's palace.

("They're just taking a nap during their lunch break," my mother said. But one of 'em had a ratty old suitcase he was obviously living out of, and a few more were sleeping on newspaper.)

My current theory is that there's just a stronger delineation between upper and lower class, and that the current hierarchy allows the upper class to easily overlook or ignore any goings on of the lower class, outside of how it affects them on a service level.

[neo-tokyo]:

Tokyo is, for the most part, a relatively new city. Its history reaches back for hundreds of years, before the Europeans arrived in the Americas, but the Americans bombed the shit out of the place, so the bulk of the city (architecturally speaking) is post-war.

(My father grew up in Tokyo and has vivid memories of going into bomb shelters nightly, of B-29s bombing the city, napalm scorching the rice fields, and his childhood home(s) burning down twice. He turned 7 shortly before the war ended.)

I imagine the newness of the city allowed for more growth, since there were no historical preservation groups trying to keep you from building a skyscraper over a sentimental ramshackle shed. I believe that was the basis of Nero's argument as well.

(Still, the newness didn't completely remove all narrow back alleys like this one, where you can disappear and come back all Hello Kitty, your mouth having been stolen and sold to the black market.)

I'll get to see the difference when I visit Kyoto next week, which the Americans avoided bombing. The city, that is. As well as next week, hopefully. That would kind of suck.

[asakusa, emperor's palace]:

Asakusa is the oldest temple in Tokyo, though the actual buildings may have been rebuilt post-war. It's the one place Japanese visitors need to go, so despite the mid-day weekday visit, it was packed. The buildings there all try to reflect old architecture, though, so the entire area was kind of nice to see.

The Imperial Palace is pretty and insanely huge if you consider how precious real estate is in Tokyo. They don't let you into the actual grounds, just peek from over the bridge.

Still, when I was younger I was batshit about castles, and I remember my visits to Japanese (and Spanish, and German, and...) castles vividly. I'm still fond of 'em. It was nice to see this one, even non-functional, even at a distance.

We're off to Ginza soon, so I'll babble more later.