...many more to go
So it's been a year now since I came to Tokyo, not that there's anything significant about 365 days, but returning to England for a few weeks does provide a sharp contrast which wakes me up to the realisation of where I actually am.
It has been an interesting year, arriving just as the economic crisis kicked in and gaining a pretty awful teaching job, I felt deprived of the Tokyo I had come to expect. Subsisting on budget brown rice and curry sauce from the hyaku-en shop (everything's 100 yen), Tokyo was a constantly beckoning source of intrigue just a little too distant to enjoy. But things gradually improved; I'm saving money now in a better job, I've done some enjoyable comedy gigs, my language has improved a lot, I've met good people, seen wonderful things and have finally begun to explore the neon-labyrinthe on my doorstep.
Even without money, Tokyo still has so much to see. Just walking the streets for hours on end, like Toru from Norwegian Wood, is an experience in itself; the cityscape is overpowering, and the variety is unimaginably rich. Just by spending a few hours in Harajuku, I managed to visit Meiji Jingu (shrine), Yoyogi Park, the bustling second-hand clothes shops and an ukiyo-e museum. In those few hours, the spectrum of people you see is astounding - all in one of the smallest 'cities' in Tokyo. It's such ridiculous variety as this that makes Tokyo a fantastic adventure, even on a budget.
After only one year, I already have so many good things to say about this city. It's fun, the food is amazing, the people are funky, interesting and often a little crazy. It's a modern city, probably more so than any other, but you can still find pockets of traditional culture if you look hard enough. There're beautiful parks, shrines, temples; the shopping is amazing, whether you're looking for fashionable labels, or cheap T-shirts of some niche rock band you used to know 20 years ago. In short, whatever you want, if you look for it in Tokyo, you're bound to find it.
Aside from run-ins with annoying foreigners, I haven't had a single bad experience here. Sure, the people look at me often with an overly-concerned glare, but that's something I'm gradually getting used to, even if, deep down, I don't particularly care for it. But Tokyo is a ridiculously easy city to live in. You can rely on the transport 100%, and it is relatively cheap (the trains are about a third the price of London's) and getting about is pretty easy, even if you don't speak the language.
Like everywhere, Tokyo/Japan does have its disappointing traits. For a country that used to be so closely reliant on a firm relationship with the environment, it's sometimes shocking to see it betray that relationship with such wanton abandon. The famous 'Bridges to nowhere' springs to mind; a teleologically bereft undertaking that's filled Japan's landscape with huge concrete landmarks, stretching over the horizon but leading to nothing. These pointless bridges dot the landscape, often unfinished, like ancient remains of a concrete dinosaur.
For a country that has such a distinct cultural identity (it doesn't take too much effort to mentally conjure an image of something quintessentially Japanese), it's also unnerving to see that culture being parodied to the point where the parody itself becomes the paradigm. There are countless 'samurai villages' dotted throughout Japan; cheesy theme parks that have become hotspots for Japanese families where they can pretend to live in the days of yore. Or onsens attached to a building complex pakced full of faux-traditional Japanese restaurants, staffed by young girls doing their arubaito (part-time job) by dressing up as geisha. But these 'Japanese experiences' are more popular with the natives than they are with tourists. So much so, that visiting these half-hearted recreations of Japan's former glory is fast becoming more a part of Japan's culture than its own original culture ever was.
Japan's u-turn on the environment, and the sacrifice of its own culture for the sake of sending it up, are just two examples of how perplexing a place Japan can be. The second you find something concrete that you believe is Japan, you'll immediately find something else that overturns that (mis)conception. No sooner have you been impressed by the extreme politeness with which new aquaintances meet, greet, and treat you, than you are shocked by the ruthless efficiency employed by men and women, young and old, in order to get a prime spot on the train, even if it means firmly shoving yours truly out of the way.
But I guess that's why I like Tokyo so much - you could never accuse it of being boring. Nevertheless, I look forward to getting back next month, saving some more money and then getting out of Tokyo to see what the rest of Japan is really like. Having lived in London and Bangkok, I'm well aware that the capital city is often very far from a real representation of a country's identity. But at the end of the day, when I get on the plane in two day's time, I know that I'll feel a little tingle of homesickness, both for England and Japan, so it must be an all right place to be.
