Centre > Travel diaries > Japan 2000 > p2: Shibuya and Shinjuku
That day I went to Shibuya for the first time. Noted in my travel journal: "Shibuya: Out of the future megalopolis! The busiest crossing in the world". And so it is -- literally hundreds of people pouring in the streets when the pedestrian light goes green. Seen from above, it is like watching a crowd of supporters take the field during a ball game. Shibuya is also where you'll find Hachikô, the famous dog, or at least his statue. Hachikô was born in 1923; he died on that spot while waiting for his master, who had had an accident in the meanwhile. A bronze statue was erected to his memory, and it is now a favourite meeting place -- so popular benches have been installed around it for the people who wait.
In the evening Tatsu took us to a restaurant called Las Chicas where we had Vietnamese and Italian dishes -- no Japanese food for me yet, except the soba noodles I had had at lunch.
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A view of Shibuya, the Tokyo Manhattan.
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Waiting for the green light on the biggest crossing in the world...
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Tokyo has many, many homeless people.
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Sunday August 27
We met up with one of Anne's Australian friends to go to Shinjuku, another outstanding Tokyo neighborhood. Shinjuku is vivid in my mind mostly for Takashimaya "Time Square", the most monstrous mall I have ever seen. We grabbed sandwiches there and made for the park of Shinjuku Gyoen. The Japanese style of garden was beautifully obvious all over the large park, and its waters hosted koi, the most absurdly huge carps I've ever seen. They could have swallowed the ducks and many turtles in the pond in one moutfhul. They're whiskered too, which is really funny. Ravens seemed to be the most common bird, and I noticed that Japanese cicadas seem to take the time to compose intricate melodies...
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The wonderfully wide streets of Shinjuku on a pedestrian day.
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Left: Takashimaya.
Above and right: Shinjuku Gyoen, in the middle of the city.
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On our way back from Shinjuku Gyoen we passed in front of a small Buddhist cemetary. I was amazed to see it bloom between the modern buildings the way it did. The Japanese have a unique ability to preserve the past and embrace the future. Nowhere did I notice a conflict between the two: they are both given the same importance and respect. It is the same with religion: Anne explained to me that they are both Shinto and Buddhist: they take what they like from both. Spirituality is present everywhere in Japan. Its very omnipresence makes the existence of religious pressure unnecessary, and the result is a truly pure and friendly feel in all the temples I have visited. More importantly, they have such respect for everything under the sun that everything is sacred, and every place holy. |
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From prayer sticks and moss-sewn Buddha statues, we went straight and by chance to the funkiest, most futuristic aspects of Tokyo. We were supposed to visit the Heimin Shrine, but instead got caught up with an unusual sight at the Harajuku station. At first I thought they were funky work uniforms, then I could have sworn they were disguises for some special occasion, finally I believed it was an open-air catwalk. But no: Harajuku is one of the places where Japanese fashion exhibits itself every Sunday, as groups of young people gather to chat and wear clothing and make-up they would not be able to wear anywhere else. I'm sure that lookign at the pictures, you'll understand why. |
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That night we had dinner at Anatolia, the Turkish restaurant where Tacchan worked as a waiter. It is with much amusement that I pondered the irony of coming all the way to Tokyo to have "meat on dough", something I had on a daily basis in Beirut. The evening ended in a karaoke bar. Karaoke the Japanese way is highly addictive. You and your friends are given a small sound-isolated booth that is equipped with a TV, sofas, 2 microphones and a phone. You can phone to order food or drinks; you pick the songs you want and take turns with the mic. We sang for 4 hours that night, and had lost the use of our vocal chords by the time we headed home. It was too late for trains so we went walking, cutting across a street I remember as "Prostitute Street". All I can say is, I couldn't help admiring what they were wearing. They were surreally elegant and modest for women of their profession. Japan truly is an unusual place. |
An international crew gathered at Anatolia.
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Flip to Page 3: Museums and the subway. |
