A is for apple, B is for ball, C is for… cosplay???
I’m back in Okinawa now after a really good weekend in the big city of Tokyo. And I’m happy to report I didn’t get too lost (although my friend/guide had much to say about that!) and wasn’t too scared by the bright neon lights and flashing sounds. It was actually a really refreshing trip and a great way to recharge my batteries in the middle of this rather mammoth working stint. I got to see a few new things and take in a few new experiences, which is always good for the soul too. So without further adue, I will begin…
Flew out of school as soon as my classes finished and headed straight for the airport. I got into an immensely rainy Haneda Airport (complete cloud cover up until about 150m up) at 7:10pm and got straight onto the monorail into Hamamatsuchou (one of the many business districts in the capital). My friend was running a little late, so I arranged to meet her in Saitama, in the North West of Tokyo. While I was on the train, I realised how much the concept of distance has changed for me since I’ve been in Okinawa. The train ride was about 30-40 minutes, which is considered nothing around Tokyo. That, for me, can mean travelling almost half-way up the island if I go on the expressway, and it was strange to hear people saying that any journey of less than an hour is “short”. I suppose it’s like that in many big cities around the world though, and I’ve just got used to small land masses. Let’s face it, prior to Okinawa, a long route in Maldives would result in a 4 minute walk across my island rather than a 3 minute one!
I made it soon enough and met up with my friend. I was a little weary after travelling, so we went out for a quick dinner before heading back and relaxing for the rest of the evening. We were both pleased to wake up on Saturday morning to bright blue skies and literally no clouds visible. It was a beautiful day and would have been a waste to stay indoors, so we elected to head to one of my favourite haunts in Tokyo… Harajuku. Although 
Saturdays attract eccentric fashions much less than Sundays, there were still a fair few impressive looking folks out. Quite a few were looking warm in the 29C sunshine, but other still managed to keep a very cool looking exterior. As we walked from Harajuku up to the designer boutique area of Omotesando and back again, it occurred to me how many foreigners I noticed around me. The foreigners in Tokyo are also much different from the average (i.e. military foreigner) here in Okinawa. That’s not to say they’re better or worse in any way - just different. You see a much bigger range of foreigner in Tokyo. You get the “gap-year” looking students, the rich, self-proclaimed beautiful people walking around with their Prada shopping bags, the English teacher (getting more easy to spot these days), the foreign tourist to Tokyo (looking quite bemused and struggling to take in everything around them), just to mention a few.
Wandering around in Harajuku in the afternoon led to meeting up with another friend and boyfriend of hers for dinner. The four of us went to a nice Thai restaurant in Kawaguchi. It was the first time I’d actually met this girl in the flesh (having chatted to her a lot before on the excellent Japanese community site, Asoboo) but she seemed really sweet. The evening went on and we left our 2 dinner companions for a “surprise”. We took the train to Aoyama and I instantly realised that we were in a rather expensive district (the almost all-glass Prada boutique and other huge designer stores gave that away!). A short walk later and we arrived at the La Terrasse bar, on the roof of the Pierre Gagnaire a Tokyo restaurant. For those of you that don’t know, Pierre Gagnaire is a 3 Michelin star winning French chef, who opened his first restaurant outside Europe at the end of 2005. This restaurant and bar is very classy, and my friend has organised and even more special treat. Booked over a month in advance, we had one of the “couples” area. The rooftop bar has 2 of these areas, which comprise of a half-covered double lounger, looking out over the Tokyo skyline. Laying back on the lounger with a blanket over us, we could see Tokyo Tower, Roppongi Hills, the Mori Building and more. We shared drinks and cheese and just relaxed in each others company as the night wore on. The prices were a little expensive (58,000 yen for a bottle of wine, Sir?) but it was a great evening and I can highly recommend taking the special person in your life there.
Sunday was a bit of a lazy day in the morning, and we only left the house in the early afternoon. The plan 
was to head to Asakusa, where there is a very famous shrine (entrance pictured left). In the New Year it is absolutely packed with people going to pray for good fortune in the year ahead, but even at this time it was really busy with a mixture of Japanese people going to pray, and tourists going for a look. I did a bit of both, and was pleased to get the “best fortune” paper picked out at random. Unfortunately, my friend got the worst possible fortune paper. But we elected to share our good and bad fortunes with each other so they’d even out! The temple has large grounds, although I was a little saddened to see the road going up to the temple was just a myriad of souvenir shops. I suppose these places have got to make money somehow, but it wasn’t great to see. But then as we walked around the temple grounds, we spotted some people who definitely stood out from the norm. These people were in colourful, immaculately-made costumes, and were partaking in something called cosplay (made from the words “costume” and “play”). This is a very Japanese phenomenon and is basically where people dress up, make-up and acquire the mannerisms of their favourite manga (comic book) characters. Note that when I say comic book, I’m not talking about The Beano or Dandy. The 
comic book industry is huge in Japan not limited to kids; you’ll regularly see businessmen in Tokyo standing on the train and reading the latest manga. One of the most famous people related to manga is Shoko Nakagawa (nicknamed Shokotan - see right). This model/singer/actress/celebrity is a self-confessed big cosplay fan and is regularly seen on her blog in her latest cosplay outfits, that she gets into after a long day at work to relax. The work that the cosplay artists put into their hobby is really admirable, and certainly not to be scoffed at. Whereas in the west, people like this might get ridiculed by members of the public when they go out, in Japan nobody really says anything, and everyone just gets on with their lives. There was some sort of event going on in the Asakusa grounds, with official cosplay cameramen and escorts with the artists. The reason for the latter is that some people get obsessed with taking photos of the cosplay artists and they start to stalk the people, losing touch of where fantasy ends and reality starts. I have to admit I am fascinated by this aspect of Japanese culture, as I am with most of the more alternative parts of Japan. It was something that I had always wanted to see, yet this was the first time in 2 and a half years I had the chance to do so (cosplay in Okinawa would be far, far too hot!). After observing for a little while, I did pluck up the courage to ask a couple for some photos, and I am quite pleased with the results. While there were some photographers getting the artists into all sorts of poses and settings, I was just happy to get snaps of them in any situation. They all seemed really friendly though, and were happy to have photos taken. It is always interesting to imagine who the person is behind the immaculate hair (I have to get manga hair at some point before I leave Japan!) and costume. Is it some university student with lots of time on their hands, a bullied schoolgirl who, like the Ganguro girls, use the make-up and outfits as a form of escapism, or someone just bored with their nondescript life, living in their nondescript home in a Tokyo suburb?
And that pretty much sums up my trip to Tokyo, and a very good trip it was. I got up at 4am today to get the train to Haneda and got back into Okinawa just in time for work this morning. It’s been a long day so I’m going to write one or 2 more emails, and then head off to bed. Hope you enjoyed the pictures - let me know if you did. And one last thing - check out the testimonials page for another dive course report, although this time from a different perspective. Thanks, and take care.
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- A few cosplay photos for you - YD Dive Forums & Scuba Community pingbacked on May 28, 2007, 10:14 pm
- ganguro trackbacked on May 31, 2007, 5:21 am
Hi Dave,
Good to see that you had a nice trip to Tokyo.
The special treatment with the view over Tokyo is fantastic, just did a similar thing with my sis and her family in Bangkok, on top of a hotel at the 63rd floor. Awesome views and whenever you’re back in Bangkok, it’s a must do, there’s another bar at the 52nd floor which is worthwhile the trip and not as expensive as the roof top restaurant.
Very nice treat of your friend.
The cosplay stuff is fascinating indeed, rather bizarre, but that’s one of the few perks that you have being able to live in the land of the rising sun. I really dig your stories about these unusual but typical Japanese lifestyles. Please keep them coming, I really enjoyed the link to the other pix that you put up, which also confirmed my suspicions about who you visited in Tokyo. Good on you.
Cool pics Dave. Hey is there a Japanese Jim’ll Fix It? I could finally get my wish and be Wonder Woman! Okay, stop thinking about that you’ll only scare yourself before bedtime.
Take Care
Bim x