In search of Mt. Fuji: Tokyo

 

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With our time in Hakone 箱根 at an end, and with the girls presumably having more sightings of Mount Fuji 富士山 than human beings should be allowed to have, it was time for the last leg of the trip, a two-night stay in Tōkyō 東京, or to be more specific, in Shinjuku 新宿, home to the world's busiest train station. I don't normally like to take photos of people other than family or friends, especially surreptitiously. But this dapper gentleman sharing a car with us for part of the trip on the Odakyū Line 小田急線 express train heading into the capital proved too photogenic to resist. Was he a Buddhist priest? Or an early 20th-century Meiji era 明治時代 novelist?:

Arriving in Shinjuku, we checked into our final accommodations, the Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku ホテルサンルートプラザ新宿, and then went out in search of dinner. My wife wanted yakiniku 焼肉, but to my personal sense of shame, rather than seek out a place where I could deploy my (ahem) cultural knowledge and language skills, I instead suggested a place very close to the hotel that had a chalkboard sign written in English out front, and English-language menus and English-speaking staff inside. The meal was fine, but I believe we ended up paying far more than we would have than if I had actually been bothered:

 

Of all Tokyo's many districts and neighborhoods, Shinjuku has always been my favorite. It's a combination of the upscale (department stores and skyscrapers),  and the seedier side of Japanese life in the form of Kabukichō 歌舞伎町. Home to some of my favorite hangouts (the late, great bar Rolling Stone being one of them), as well as a plethora of restaurants and shops, I suggested we go for a stroll following dinner:

While Shu-E did some browsing in a large drugstore, I took to my daughter to Kinokuniya 紀伊国屋書店, a bookstore where I spent a large amount of time and money during the decade I lived in Tokyo. In addition to the many English-language tomes on Japan (I ended up purchasing the latest Lonely Planet guide to Japan, which is currently only available for pre-order on Amazon), I showed Amber several what I thought were Taiwanese language phrasebooks. Later, however, when I looked more closely at this photo, I realized they were actually guides to speaking Taiwanese Mandarin. I still should've gotten one*:

The bright lights of Yasukuni-dōri 靖国通り, which is a standard image in movies with scenes set in Tokyo. I don't recall having ever taken any photos of the nightlights despite all the time spent in the area. On the other hand, in the days before cell phones with cameras, it would have been very odd to have brought a standard camera along every time I went out to a bar, club, restaurant or concert hall (in fact, in the latter the camera would've been confiscated!):

The Godzilla figure on the roof of the Hotel Gracery, a famous Instagram shot. I'm embarrassed to say I tried to book a room for us there, but fortunately it was full:

I don't know if it's a product of my advanced years, but it seemed to me Kabukicho was much less threatening than it once was. I'm sure the seedy businesses and the gangsters are still around on the side streets (there were a lot of warnings to tourists to beware of touts) but the main thoroughfares appear to have been cleaned up for the tourist trade. 

In much the same way Edo period 江戸時代 Japan had to succumb to Victorian mores in order to be respected by the Western powers, modern Japan seemingly has also caved into pressure to be more presentable. The cigarette and alcohol vending machines that I once used so often can now only be accessed with ID cards. Gone it seems are the salacious TV programs that used to air following the late-night news (like the "11 PM Wide Show" and "Gilgamesh" ギルガメッシュ). Even the once-grim public toilets have literally cleaned up their act, though that's one change I now wholeheartedly embrace, having long ago converted to believing in the power of the Washlet). To be a single man in his late 20's/early 30's in Japan at the tail-end of the economic bubble バブル景気 was a fortunate bit of timing on my part. Today's generation of travelers will never know of bodycon dresses ボディコン, ikeike girls イケイケギャル or free samples of Mild Sevens being handed out on the streets of Shibuya 渋谷. On the other hand, they will also probably never get to experience being shaken down by a gangster to pay an inflated bar bill at a Kabukicho dive bar**, so not all change is bad:

BIC Camera ビックカメラ, home to one of the most annoying jingles in the history of advertising. Imagine having to listen to this on an endless loop during an 8-hour shift, five days a week, 4.2 weeks a month***, and you'll come to understand why Japanese gun ownership laws are so strict:

One of Shinjuku's noted drinking streets, affectionately nicknamed "Piss Alley". Not exactly fun for the whole family, though later we would visit an izakaya (and Omoide-yokochō's 思い出横丁 reputation is based on the past, not the present):

Instead of relieving myself in a public space, I bought this from a convenience store and used the facilities back in our hotel room:

The following morning (Friday), while the girls were taking their time getting ready following breakfast (women, am I right?), I went for a stroll around the neighborhood:

The Modo Gakuen Cocoon Tower モード学園コクーンタワー, a familiar sight to readers of manga 漫画 and watchers of anime アニメ:

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building 東京都庁舎 peeks out from the end of a side street. The Tochō 都庁 was very controversial at the time of completion due to the perceived extravagance of its design, but the views from the observation decks are exceptional (and free):

Last year I took my daughter to Tokyo at the start of a 27-day jaunt going from the new capital to the old one (Kyōto 京都). I let Amber choose where to go, and the places in Tokyo (and its surroundings) we ended up going to included Akihabara 秋葉原 (here and here); Tokyo Tower 東京タワー and Shibuya; Ikebukuro 池袋; Kamakura 鎌倉 and Odaiba お台場; and Asakusa 浅草, the Imperial Palace 皇居 and Harajuku 原宿. This time being the first for Shu-E, I was curious to see where she would decide on visiting. The first stop turned out to be Gōtoku-ji Temple 豪徳寺, located in a quiet residential area in Setagaya-ku 世田谷区:

A hint as to why we went to the temple:

Gotoku-ji is home to several thousand Maneki-neko 招き猫 figurines. If you look closely, you'll see one of the felines is cheekily waving the Republic of China (Taiwan) flag:

Some backstory: in the days before Instagram and the various other forms of social media, this temple was largely unknown. I visited it once sometime in the early-mid 1990's only because I was living in Setagaya-ku at the time, and the ward office had published a small English-language guide that introduced some of the (then) lesser-known sites in the area to its foreign residents. So one free weekday afternoon I rode my bike to Gotoku-ji. If memory serves me right, I was the only one there. There also weren't as many of the Maneki-neko statues as there are currently. If you visit now, you certainly won't be alone, and the temple now has a small gift shop selling figurines in different sizes, with visitors patiently queueing. A lot has certainly changed in the roughly thirty years between visits!:

For the record, I am not saying "Power to the People!":

Another example of changing times is the modern cars used on the Setagaya Line 世田谷線, one of only two tramways till operating in Tokyo (the other being the Toden Arakawa Line 都電荒川線). This video shows what it was like in the 1990's, when I would ride the line to visit the ward office:

Next stop: Tsukiji 築地, once home to the famous fish market. The market (with its early morning auction) has since been relocated to Toyosu 豊洲, but the Outer Market 築地場外市場, selling seafood, vegetables and various other sundries, is still in operation:

Tsukiji was one of the first places I visited after getting settled in in Tokyo, though I couldn't muster the effort to get there at 0500 hours to see the auction (in retrospect, I could've gone after staying out all night, something that wasn't uncommon back in those days. Youth is wasted on the young). I recall having a sushi breakfast with my girlfriend at around 0800 and being shocked when the bill came to ¥10,000 (fortunately I had enough cash on me). This time around, the three of us had a seafood lunch, and being in a higher income bracket than I was back in 1989, the cost wasn't an issue:

Following lunch, we spent the rest of our time at the market doing what we would do in a Taiwanese night market - snacking:

A prewar house standing in the midst of the market:

The girl and I enjoy tamagoyaki 玉子焼き from Yamachō 山長:

The missus opted for some grilled squid:

From Tsukiji it was a relatively short walk to the swanky Ginza  銀座 district, the symbol of which is the Seikō House Ginza Clock Tower セイコーハウス銀座時計塔:

Just one of the many luxury brands with outlets in Ginza:

Rather than symbols of conspicuous consumption, we were in Ginza to let Amber do some shopping at Itōya 伊東屋, a well-known (and expansive - seven floors! - stationery store). Knowing she and her mother would be there for some time, I headed up to Cafe Stylo on the 12th floor to allow them plenty of time to look around:

We ended the day in Shibuya, which admittedly was more my suggestion than my wife's. Shibuya was probably the area in which I spent the most time (other than the neighborhoods where my apartments were located) while living in Tokyo. And just as in Shinjuku the night before, I took a lot more photos now than compared to way back then:

The three of us split up for a while - Shu-E did some shopping at drugstores, Amber went to an arcade to spend some of my hard-earned money on games, and I went to see what Tower Records タワーレコード渋谷店 looks like these days. Despite the parent company (Sacramento's contribution to popular culture) having gone bankrupt in 2006, the Shibuya store is still around. Like Kinokuniya, I also spent a lot of time and money here. Unfortunately, the bookstore that used to occupy the 7th floor is now gone:

Next, I went to a small shop selling vintage soccer jerseys, where to my surprise I came across this Southend United jersey from the early-mid aughts. I would've purchased this to replace the one I bought in Southend in 1996 (and still wear)****, but the size was a medium, whereas I'm...big. A pity: 

Of all the places in Tokyo we visited, both on this most recent trip and during July of last year, Shibuya was the area that for me has undergone the most dramatic of changes. Projects such as Miyashita Park 宮下公園 (see photo below), Shibuya Scramble Square 渋谷スクランブルスクエア, Shibuya Hikarie 渋谷ヒカリエ and Shibuya Stream 渋谷ストリーム have rendered many areas around the station (especially in the east and southeast) largely unfamiliar to this old Shibuya hand (fortunately Center-gai 渋谷センター街 hasn't changed much):

Passing behind Hachikō ハチ公. My wife wasn't interested in joining the line to have a photo taken with the loyal mutt:

The old Nonbei Yokochō 渋谷のんべい横丁drinking alley by the station still appears to be holding on...:

...but much of it has been given the theme park treatment:

And it was in the latter that we went for the izakaya 居酒屋 experience - fried or grilled foods washed down with copious amounts of alcohol (note: Amber remained a teetotaler throughout the evening) in a lively atmosphere:

One thing I didn't get to do as much as I would've liked on this trip was to spend time in Mister Donut ミスタードーナツ. We did stop in the branch on Yasukuni-dori in Shinjuku the previous evening, but the pickings as closing time neared were on the slim side of the scale (though the doughnuts themselves could hardly be considered as "slimming"). With no ミスド in sight around Shibuya Station, I had to settle for Krispy Kreme as a fallback option:

With our flight to Beijing 北京 scheduled for a 1420 hours departure on Saturday afternoon, there wasn't really any time to do anything that morning other than check out of the hotel, and ride the subway to Haneda Airport 羽田空港. I did find this PSA on the train to be mildly amusing - in my case, it was short people opening up their umbrellas and threatening to poke out one of my eyes in the process that was a greater danger, especially as I used to wear contacts:

At the airport I was amused to find Air China (China) and China Air (Taiwan) on opposite sides of the shared check-in island. Unfortunately for us we were flying the former:

Heading off for lunch after checking in:

My final meal in Japan was a katsudon カツ丼 set:

35 years in Asia and I'm still bemused by signs like this one:

Back home in Beijing. Timi was happy to see us back, but unsure of the gift that Amber had gotten for him:

Speaking of cats, here's a book I bought during the trip, posed next to an ema 絵馬 that I picked up at Kitaguchi Hongū Fuji Sengen-jinja 北口本宮冨士浅間神社:

Thank you for following along on these blog posts. It was an enjoyable time in a country that has played such a major role (for better and worse) in my adult life. This being possibly the last time the three of us travel as a family before our daughter heads off to college also lent a certain poignancy to the trip. But this isn't the end, as the Japanese saga will continue. In fact, my wife doesn't know it yet, but I'm already planning a return visit this autumn, to new and exciting places (and possibly some old, familiar ones, if Shu-E elects to join me). 

Until then, this blog will be China-centric in presentation Stay tuned...

*In fact, years ago I did buy a Japanese-Taiwanese Hokkien 臺灣話 phrasebook, but my wife has always been reluctant to assist me (or our daughter, for that matter) in learning to speak her co-mother tongue:

**For the record, such an experience never happened to me, but I did hear and read stories.

***There is a full 2+minute-long version of the song. The 2023 version is an improvement, but the annoying hook is still there:

****Here it is. I probably should update: