Walking through the Ginza district I saw a line of people in carefully arranged and put together outfits queuing for something. I hate queues but this one was a quiet, patient double file of people at the most outrageous whispering quietly, so the guards wearing sea blue Army uniforms with badges saying TaskForce and white gloves were having an easy time of herding them in line across roads and keeping them out of the way of the pedestrian public. Turning a corner and walking a couple of blocks (250 metres) down I found out they were queuing to be allowed into H&M. And even more surprisingly, unlike the Topshop sales, people were exiting sedately carrying only one bag. Who could queue for over an hour to go into a store then only buy a few things. Apparently the well behaved, gracious Japanese Ginza shoppers. I immediately set my behaviour drive to very good and smoothed out my dress – luckily I packed for a city rather than trekking holiday but still… When in Rome and all that…
People not bumping you with their umbrellas and patiently waiting their turn aren’t the only charms of Tokyo, you’re also asked to turn your phone onto silent on the train and not answer calls, so the subway is quiet peaceful, clean and free of smelly food. The city seems to be pretty clean as well, and the girls dressed in their long socks and boots all look to me like they’ve made an effort – I love it. Even as I fumble though my poor knowledge of the language people have been politeness personified – am I lucky or is this city really this gracious as a whole? How can it be?
Earlier in the day I’d been at the fish markets, probably getting into people’s ways with my camera, and possibly even making a face at the sheer scale of marine carnage around me – I saw a tuna longer than I am tall have its massive head cleaved from the rest of it. It was enough to put me on to vegetarian sushi and ramen for the rest of the day and possibly tomorrow as well… I have never before seen the things that I saw there. Have you ever seen a fish turned inside out so its roe are showing? No? Me neither. And I used to hang out at the Sydney Fish Markets all the time. It was as manic as the guide books say it will be and then a few slivers more. The main mode of transport is a drum engine lowered on to the top of a four wheeled tray which looks like the kind of truck a five year old would make out of lego, and these are driven wild with abandon. I don’t think there are any road rules. There certainly aren’t any rules about not smoking around what will be food – some of it won’t even be cooked, though there is so much ice and water around that it shouldn’t matter – I’m just trying to make the point that these guys work to rules of their own. Even if you’re only in Tokyo for one day you should see this. Seriously. It’s definitely worth getting up early for.
My afternoon was spent with Mr. Fuji (actual name.), who was my guide around the Edo Tokyo Museum, he was a child in WW2 when the allies were fire bombing Tokyo and one of the most graceful, reserved men I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. The perfect guide he gave me just enough information to go on with and let me ask questions. He knew a lot about samuri and Edo period wood block printing and let me ring a big old bell – he could tell I wanted to – as well as play some musical instruments, even though I think they were really only for children to play with.
This blog was written while travelling at 300km p/h on the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto. I’m typing rather than writing but if I was writing you’d think I was sitting at a desk which was travelling at much lower speeds – beside me sits a rather classy looking woman with one of those ‘this-years-must-have-handbags’ who begun the journey working on her laptop on a marketing presentation but is now playing her PSP. I love Japan. It’s so full of easy metaphoric comparisons – people, like my charming chair-mate just keep dropping them into my lap. And I just saw Mt. Fuji outside the window.