My head's spinning
May. 19th, 2003 11:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jayAfter yesterday's whirlwind tour of Tokyo, guided by Ms. Kanekiyo (who has been incredibly friendly and helpful -- and patient). My jet lag wasn't much in evidence, other than a bit of dragginess in late afternoon at the museum.
When I arrived last night, my ordered cellphone was waiting -- this has already been useful in coordinating meeting times/places. Yukiko called me Sunday morning and then met me downstairs at 8am in the hotel lobby. Considering that she had an hour train ride and walk from her home, and had to have arrived home around 1am the previous evening, I was impressed with her hospitality and dedication for a visiting acquaintance.
(The hotel is one of Tokyo's first-rank, BTW... with excellent, detailed service, a large room, and high-rise panoramic views towards the Imperial grounds , the Diet building and downtown. I was lucky to get a weekend internet special rate. ;)
Anyway, I'd expressed an interest in seeing a cultural festival being held Sunday in Asakusa. It started early, so we headed there... but first took a taxi to Tokyo Station. Yukiko talked the driver into skirting the Imperial grounds and preserve, as close as security would permit.
From the station, we went through a confusing tangle of subway lines and JR transfers. My friend was in her element... we arrived quickly, although I keep hitting my head on the hanging rings in the subway cars here. Emerging out on the street, we saw a crowd -- with street dancing and chanting as portable shrines were carried around in a circuit. A photo is
here.
The dancers were in groups each wearing lightweight robes with different designs. Some wore shorts or just underwear underneath, and nearly all had headbands. The portable shrine had a phoenix on top and cords with tied paper on the side -- we found one being prepared on a side street.
Then we wandered towards the main shopping arcade in Asakusa -- and saw another crowd approaching, around another portable shrine. We got close, and waited... then, a crush of chanting, moving bodies saying "sa-ya, sa-ya" or similar. I could hardly breathe, but joined in -- chanting and moving, just like the other bystanders there. A crowd surge pushed me squarely against Yukiko, but she didn't take offense.
She took a brief movie with her nifty Casio credit-card camera -- it's ftp-able at http://www.lithic.net/images/movies/shrinedance.AVI (be forewarned, it's over 1MB).
Then we went to the central temple (Senso-ji)... Yukiko showed me how to use the water dipper to ritually-purify myself (washing one hand, then the other, then pouring water in one hand and then rinsing my mouth) before ascending the steps to the shrine. Where she then showed me the ritual in front of the altar (pray, toss a coin in the lattticed box, clap twice, and bow before exiting to the side). We each paid another 100 yen for a fortune (rolling sticks in a cylinder) -- hers was "great fortune", mine was "small good fortune" (although by then I felt blessed as it was ;).
Musicians on a balcony... wandering and snacking on some tangy rubbery balls on a stick that Yukiko suggested, which were a bit chewy (aram root?). Then, some shopping... there was a store that sold, among other things, wigs for large geisha-like hair... and interesting hairpins and jewelry.
Yukiko knew of a small amusement park nearby (built in the 1950s, it turned out, near what had apparently been a red-light district during the Korean Conflict). On a whim, we went there to ride the roller coaster! It was a bit silly, but something that she remembered from younger days and it rolled through made-up houses ;) I posed for a silly picture afterwards, it was lots of fun.
By then it was lunchtime, so we headed to Ryogoku to the vicinity of the sumo stadium (pronounced similarly to "smo", not "soo-moh", BTW), had lunch and went to the Tokyo-Edo museum, with its fantastical architecture.
Playing with the exhibits... lots of dioramas, artifacts and hands-on. There were sections describing each past historical period, with illustrative exhibits.
Perhaps worried that I'd be embarrassed or uncomfortable, Yukiko told me later that she had considered taking me past the WWII section... which showed video footage of B-29 bomb bay doors opening up over Tokyo Bay, juxtaposed against pictures of firestorms and piles of dead charred civilian bodies. It was jarring to see that from the Japanese perspective... and it reminded me of how sad I'd felt visiting at Northrop in March when they'd been crowing about "their" B-2s being in use then over Iraq. Yukiko and I talked about it, and her feelings visiting Malaysia (where there's apparently an anti-Japanese memorial commemorating some of the nasty things done by them there, and a lot of ongoing negative sentiment), and we agreed that it was better to face up to the past (on both sides) but not be kept captive by it. And that humanity is capable of some pretty stupid things...
We left the museum a bit somberly at closing, and then decided on retail therapy ;-). I had a list of gifts in which various folks had expressed interest, plus I was planning to get a new digital camera (ours is 5 years old and <100k pixels). Saturday night... we saw sumo wrestlers on the train platform (in kimono) as we headed to Akihabara. It was alight with crowds, neon displays, hawkers at store entrances... Electric Town proper had lots of smallish booths or shops, selling one specialty like handtools, individual transistors and chips in bins, washing machines, software, audio equipment... like a cross between Fry's and an indoor flea market. Prices comparable to those at home, generally, no huge bargains. We went to a favorite store of Yukiko's, up five levels to the camera/AV department. I had been impressed by her tiny Casio during the day, enough so that I bought one myself, albeit without her model's mp3 playback capability. She negotiated a small discount, and I got it duty-free... I did other shopping, too. We took several trains to reach a department store past Shibuya that was still open at 9pm to look at yukata, but there was nothing that I saw that I liked, at least not at full-retail prices. She pointed out her office building near Shinagawa (she works for Sony in wireless networking).
One item lifted her eyebrows... I had written the list on an email from someone (who will remain unnamed ;-) who had asked for hentai comics. She blushed and said that the male colleague couldn't possibly mean *that*... when I said that it was actually a woman's request, she looked a bit dubious. I pointed to the email (this wasn't just a polite way of buying it for myself!) and shrugged. Yukiko explained that she (and many other Japanese women) had discomfort with the unrealistic depictions of women in these books (think of Barbie dolls in the US...) and the cultural pressure to fit those expectations. Plus, she said with slight annoyance, many male computer geeks preferred hentai comics to talking with real girls... (hmm... I've heard *that* complaint in other guises at home, I think ;).
By then, it was 10pm and we were both tired on our feet... she dropped me off safely back at the hotel with plans to meet again at the conference in Nara tomorrow.
When I arrived last night, my ordered cellphone was waiting -- this has already been useful in coordinating meeting times/places. Yukiko called me Sunday morning and then met me downstairs at 8am in the hotel lobby. Considering that she had an hour train ride and walk from her home, and had to have arrived home around 1am the previous evening, I was impressed with her hospitality and dedication for a visiting acquaintance.
(The hotel is one of Tokyo's first-rank, BTW... with excellent, detailed service, a large room, and high-rise panoramic views towards the Imperial grounds , the Diet building and downtown. I was lucky to get a weekend internet special rate. ;)
Anyway, I'd expressed an interest in seeing a cultural festival being held Sunday in Asakusa. It started early, so we headed there... but first took a taxi to Tokyo Station. Yukiko talked the driver into skirting the Imperial grounds and preserve, as close as security would permit.
From the station, we went through a confusing tangle of subway lines and JR transfers. My friend was in her element... we arrived quickly, although I keep hitting my head on the hanging rings in the subway cars here. Emerging out on the street, we saw a crowd -- with street dancing and chanting as portable shrines were carried around in a circuit. A photo is
here.The dancers were in groups each wearing lightweight robes with different designs. Some wore shorts or just underwear underneath, and nearly all had headbands. The portable shrine had a phoenix on top and cords with tied paper on the side -- we found one being prepared on a side street.
Then we wandered towards the main shopping arcade in Asakusa -- and saw another crowd approaching, around another portable shrine. We got close, and waited... then, a crush of chanting, moving bodies saying "sa-ya, sa-ya" or similar. I could hardly breathe, but joined in -- chanting and moving, just like the other bystanders there. A crowd surge pushed me squarely against Yukiko, but she didn't take offense.
She took a brief movie with her nifty Casio credit-card camera -- it's ftp-able at http://www.lithic.net/images/movies/shrinedance.AVI (be forewarned, it's over 1MB).
Then we went to the central temple (Senso-ji)... Yukiko showed me how to use the water dipper to ritually-purify myself (washing one hand, then the other, then pouring water in one hand and then rinsing my mouth) before ascending the steps to the shrine. Where she then showed me the ritual in front of the altar (pray, toss a coin in the lattticed box, clap twice, and bow before exiting to the side). We each paid another 100 yen for a fortune (rolling sticks in a cylinder) -- hers was "great fortune", mine was "small good fortune" (although by then I felt blessed as it was ;).
Musicians on a balcony... wandering and snacking on some tangy rubbery balls on a stick that Yukiko suggested, which were a bit chewy (aram root?). Then, some shopping... there was a store that sold, among other things, wigs for large geisha-like hair... and interesting hairpins and jewelry.
Yukiko knew of a small amusement park nearby (built in the 1950s, it turned out, near what had apparently been a red-light district during the Korean Conflict). On a whim, we went there to ride the roller coaster! It was a bit silly, but something that she remembered from younger days and it rolled through made-up houses ;) I posed for a silly picture afterwards, it was lots of fun.
By then it was lunchtime, so we headed to Ryogoku to the vicinity of the sumo stadium (pronounced similarly to "smo", not "soo-moh", BTW), had lunch and went to the Tokyo-Edo museum, with its fantastical architecture.
Playing with the exhibits... lots of dioramas, artifacts and hands-on. There were sections describing each past historical period, with illustrative exhibits.
Perhaps worried that I'd be embarrassed or uncomfortable, Yukiko told me later that she had considered taking me past the WWII section... which showed video footage of B-29 bomb bay doors opening up over Tokyo Bay, juxtaposed against pictures of firestorms and piles of dead charred civilian bodies. It was jarring to see that from the Japanese perspective... and it reminded me of how sad I'd felt visiting at Northrop in March when they'd been crowing about "their" B-2s being in use then over Iraq. Yukiko and I talked about it, and her feelings visiting Malaysia (where there's apparently an anti-Japanese memorial commemorating some of the nasty things done by them there, and a lot of ongoing negative sentiment), and we agreed that it was better to face up to the past (on both sides) but not be kept captive by it. And that humanity is capable of some pretty stupid things...
We left the museum a bit somberly at closing, and then decided on retail therapy ;-). I had a list of gifts in which various folks had expressed interest, plus I was planning to get a new digital camera (ours is 5 years old and <100k pixels). Saturday night... we saw sumo wrestlers on the train platform (in kimono) as we headed to Akihabara. It was alight with crowds, neon displays, hawkers at store entrances... Electric Town proper had lots of smallish booths or shops, selling one specialty like handtools, individual transistors and chips in bins, washing machines, software, audio equipment... like a cross between Fry's and an indoor flea market. Prices comparable to those at home, generally, no huge bargains. We went to a favorite store of Yukiko's, up five levels to the camera/AV department. I had been impressed by her tiny Casio during the day, enough so that I bought one myself, albeit without her model's mp3 playback capability. She negotiated a small discount, and I got it duty-free... I did other shopping, too. We took several trains to reach a department store past Shibuya that was still open at 9pm to look at yukata, but there was nothing that I saw that I liked, at least not at full-retail prices. She pointed out her office building near Shinagawa (she works for Sony in wireless networking).
One item lifted her eyebrows... I had written the list on an email from someone (who will remain unnamed ;-) who had asked for hentai comics. She blushed and said that the male colleague couldn't possibly mean *that*... when I said that it was actually a woman's request, she looked a bit dubious. I pointed to the email (this wasn't just a polite way of buying it for myself!) and shrugged. Yukiko explained that she (and many other Japanese women) had discomfort with the unrealistic depictions of women in these books (think of Barbie dolls in the US...) and the cultural pressure to fit those expectations. Plus, she said with slight annoyance, many male computer geeks preferred hentai comics to talking with real girls... (hmm... I've heard *that* complaint in other guises at home, I think ;).
By then, it was 10pm and we were both tired on our feet... she dropped me off safely back at the hotel with plans to meet again at the conference in Nara tomorrow.
