Tokyo weekend & Foo Fighters gig report (part 1)
Greetings readers for another hopefully mildly entertaining instalment of my blog. At least I’ve got something of note to report this time - my long overdue trip to Tokyo. On Friday evening I headed up to Tokyo for the first time since I arrived in Japan, way back in August 2004. The flight was on time (very impressive for a flight to/from Okinawa) and even arrived a few minutes early - maybe a sign of good things during my trip. From my arrival at Haneda airport I headed by monorail to Hamamatsucho where my German friend picked me up. We went to her place in Roppongi where I’d be staying for the weekend but then she had to head back to an enkai so I had the rest of the evening to myself (it was around 11:15pm at this time).
Decided to orientate myself at this point and head out for a wander into the big city. First thing I realised is that Roppongi has many gaijin, and I mean MANY gaijin! The bars there had the clientèle like a bar in the west, which was pretty disconcerting for a little while. I’m used to seeing military around and about in Okinawa, but they definitely seemed to be the majority here. Had a drink in a couple of bars, bought one waitress a drink as it was her first night working, and then headed back. It had been a long week at school writing and marking tests, and I was pretty worn down. The highlight of the evening was walking back to my friend’s place though. Got to a crossing and was waiting for traffic to stop when I glanced at the guy to my right. I had to double-take before I realised it was Taylor Hawkins from Foo Fighters!!! Very briefly introduced myself and said I’d be going his gig on Monday, he said a brief hello and thanks before heading off. As soon as he’d gone I realised I had a camera attached to my phone and that I should have taken a photo. Ah well, my hindsight is 20/20, and I was glad to have met him anyway.
Saturday was a touristy day, although there are much more interesting sights in other places of Japan (e.g. Kyoto) than Tokyo. But I was determined to see what I could of the big city. Headed over to Shinjuku and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. Went to the top of that - some 51 floors and 243m/802ft high. There are some great views to be had, and on completely clear days you can see Mt Fuji from here. It was sunny when I visiited, but there was a little haze meaning I couldn’t see quite that far. What I could see was an urban sprawl as far as the eye could see in almost every direction. Now I’ll admit that I’m easily more at home in the country - Yaese-cho and Okinawa is hardly a metropolis, my island in Maldives had only 300 people, and my home in England is fairly rural in location. To be just surrounded by buildings was pretty sad, especially considering my love of the ocean.
After exploring and getting lost in Shinjuku for a while, I decided to head for something a little more cultural (and controversial). And very few things provoke much more controversy in Japan throughout Asia than the Yasukuni shrine in the heart of Asia. Located just across the road from the Nippon Budokan, this shrine was built in 1869 to commemorate Japan’s war-dead. At the shrine is a “book of souls” which includes the names of 2,466,532 people who have died fighting for Japan. Nothing to get angry about so far, but the book also contains the names of 1,068 people who were convicted of war crimes during WWII. In addition, the museum at the shrine is claimed by some to be a little one-sided in its accounts of what happened during the war. Over the past few years Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has visited the shrine, which has caused outrage among many Chinese and South Koreans. Quite a lot of the time the black nationalistic buses blasting out imperialist music and propaganda messages pass the shrine, but when I went by all was quiet. It was a nicely built shrine, but nothing which would make you think of all the problems it causes in relations between Japan & its neighbours.
The sun was settting as I left the Yasukuni shrine so I decided to head off to Shibuya - apparently the place where all the young cool people go. It’s also the scene of the huge Hakucho crossing, which is featured in almost every western TV or film clip which features Tokyo. My word is that place a sensory overload! What looked like the entire population of Japan trying to get across the road every 2 minutes, and huge screens of Cameron Diaz and Brad Pitt in the new Softbank advertisement on the walls of the buildings around you. I wandered around for a while but was going nowhere quickly, so I decided to retreat back to Ropponi for the evening.
As for Sunday and Monday, well you’ll find out in part 2 which will be published very soon…
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