Japan ‘08 Chap. 3: City Life

07Sep08

My sister suddenly asked for my Universal Studios brochure yesterday and while I was searching for it in my gigantic NATAS Fair bag, I saw some other brochures that made me excited about Japan all over again. You can probably tell I’ve been quite happy these days, if the number of recent posts is anything to go by. While looking at some of the brochures, I realised that there’s so much more of Japan that I’ve not seen, so I shall go there again in a few years’ time haha. But while I accumulate my savings, I shall be contented with recalling the good memories of this year’s trip.

I didn’t start my Japan ‘chronicles’ with a chapter on city life cos although I was excited to see the hustle and bustle of Tokyo while we were ambitiously planning to go on a free-and-easy trip, Japan was to be my great escape from the fast-paced Singapore. Which was why I started with culture and nature. But it’s high time I talk about city life cos it captures the essence of that which has made Japan one of the most industralised economies in the world, though some would point out that the last few years have not been good for Japan economically, politically and socially.

Anyway, I shall take a chronological approach here cos then it’ll end with Tokyo, which basically encapsulates how ordinary Japanese city-dwellers live.

So, first up would be Osaka, the first city we went to on arrival at Kansai International Airport. It was not a very good day cos we (or rather I, cos I shouldn’t speak for Trina & Angel) were all too sleepy to enjoy the full soul and flavour of Osaka. We had taken the night flight from Singapore and since it was my first flight out from my homeland (haha this sounds super cheesy!), I was too excited to sleep while on board. I think after watching a couple of movies I probably caught only forty winks, which explains how unearthly I look in the Osaka pictures.

We went to Shin Sai Bashi, a large shopping area in Osaka with lots of shops along narrow streets selling all sorts of goods. I was quite overwhelmed by the size of the area and the never-ending throngs of shoppers along all the aisles, even though Singapore boasts an equally busy shopping district in the form of Orchard Rd. Also, being one who doesn’t dress to the nines for shopping, I was kinda shocked to see the great lengths the Japanese go to in order to look their best, even when it’s just a shopping outing. Haha I’m not a shopping addict so maybe that’s why I don’t understand the culture of shopping and the workings of it, but well, it was interesting to see thousands of Japanese of all ages and lifestyles hit the shops on a weekend.

Besides the people, the billboards were interesting. I always wonder why Singapore doesn’t have that many billboards cos I think it’s a very good advertising form. Cos it’s big and colourful and it’s really ‘at you’ kinda thing, there’s no way shoppers can miss it. On one side of the quadrangle, there’s even a large electronic billboard which showed commercials and horse races, among other things. That’s probably a bit too happening for Singapore but haha it was interesting.

A cinema in Shin Sai Bashi. It was difficult to get the whole building into the frame cos the streets were pretty narrow so this was the best I could do with my beginner photography skills. Not sure what kinda films they show but I took the picture cos of the interesting architecture. But ‘interesting’ is about what I can say about the architecture cos the knowledge of architecture I have is negligible. I remember reading a bit about architecture in India during the British Colonial Era for one of my EU modules but sadly, I don’t remember the details. So I should not even attempt to comment on this. Shall ask Huiyu about this building when we meet up.

Fast forward a couple of days and we end up at another shopping area, this time in Gotemba.

When I first read up about this Premium Outlet Shopping Mall, I thought: Expensive, sure got nothing to buy. I thought I’d be bored for the 2-3 hours we were scheduled to be there. I was sure proven wrong cos firstly it’s not boring and secondly, I bought quite a lot of things haha. Of course I had to restrict myself to sports labels cos my budget didn’t allow me to even look at the luxury labels that some of the ladies in my tour group indulged in. The shopping mall is not actually located in the city centre but since I’ve been on the topic of shopping for a good part of this post, I might as well just include Gotemba here. I really like Gotemba cos of the generous number of brands covered and the laidback single-level layout that leaves me time for contemplation on what to buy and what not to buy while walking around. Certainly different from the narrow and overly-crowded streets of Shin Sai Bashi, which partly made me not want to buy anything (other than the Hello Kitty brolly for my lil sis) cos I could hardly stop to think.

And when Gotemba provides you with a good view of Mt Fuji, Gotemba wins hands down. I like to do my shopping in a relaxed atmosphere, breathing in fresh air and having lunch while overlooking Mt Fuji.

When we finally reached Tokyo, we realised that the trip was coming to an end so in between shopping and snapping photos, I kept whining about having to go back to work. And we were like saying how fast 7 days had passed and now we had to go back to reality, haha…

At Tokyo, we basically saw things that we used to see only in postcards and on TV. Which is why I don’t see the need to explain everything, save for some things I found interesting. Suffice to say I felt it was a great achievement to able to see these things in person. Seeing the Tokyo Tower, the skyscrapers, the government buildings and the replica Statue of Liberty basically validates what I see on TV. I’ll just include the photos here for your viewing pleasure:

After crossing from Odaiba to Tokyo mainland via the 20min cruise ride, we headed to Ueno, where the Ameyoko Flea Market is situated.

It was like Shin Sai Bashi all over again cos of the amount of people walking on the narrow streets but it’s interesting in its own right. There’s a lot of wet market items like fish, squid and even meat, dried foodstuff like scallops and octopus and a whole range of snacks from plums to pistachios. And because it’s here that I found the first (and sadly the only) Halal food outlet during the course of my trip, I shall remember Ueno forever.

Walking along the streets of Ueno was also interesting for another reason. If you can see from the above photo, I’m basically walking outside pubs, bars and questionable joints, a situation in which you’d hardly find me when I’m in sunny Singapore. At home, I’m really overprotected. But in Japan, I could use my tourist identity to walk there (at least in the day) without much worry.

After some time at Ueno, we went to Shinjuku, one of the busiest shopping districts in Tokyo. There’s of course the trendy Shibuya and techy Akihabara but Shinjuku was already quite a handful for me. You can go blind looking at all the neon lights and the number of people walking around can make you giddy. We didn’t really spend too much time there cos it’s actually not in the itinerary. Some things caught our eyes though…

…like this shop along some back lane. Along the way there were some sleazy joints but I really don’t know what this is. Forgot to ask the tour guide too, or maybe some other people asked but I wasn’t tuning in so I’m left wondering what this place is all about. People familiar with Japanese can perhaps enlighten me on the meaning of the signages at this shop.

Another interesting place. The male version of the hostess club. Most of the guys have the same spiky hairstyle and the same androgynous look. Hardly my type…

After a short bus ride from Shinjuku, we found ourselves in one of the busiest railway stations in Japan, at Shinagawa.

Our hotel in Tokyo was about 5-10 minutes away from this station so after putting our bags down, we walked down the slopes to see how a night in Tokyo is played out. It’s sure busy with all the salarymen and OLs just knocking off from work and buying groceries last minute before catching that train home. But walk away from the station and you find things quietening down a bit. After the long bus ride from the Gotemba since early afternoon and some quick sightseeing at Odaiba, Ueno and Shinjuku, I kinda relished having some peace walking around freely even though some of the shops had closed for the night by then.

On our way down the slope, we saw this sign outside Le Meridien Pacific Tokyo.

It’s just amazing how Singapore markets itself all over the world. Makes me feel proud to be a Singaporean.

And I shall end this post with one of my top 10 favourite Japan photos, taken just across the street from Shinagawa station. In photography, this would probably not be a good photo cos of the blurred images of people crossing the street but to me it’s perfect.

Why?

Cos it successfully captures the soul of Tokyo, the essence of bustling Tokyo which is too fast-paced for even the best cameras to capture.

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Tags: life, people, photography, travel