Day 18

Today we return to Tokyo for the final leg of our journey around Japan. I am conscious that there are many details I have neglected to mention in these reports, either because there has been so much else to say, or because I have become so accustomed to such little details that it has not occurred to me to mention them and I will no doubt find their absence strange when I return.

For example, vending machines selling drinks and cigarettes are everywhere. Literally they can always be found within a few hundred metres. Inside shrines and temples, at the top of mount misen, almost anywhere in Japan that you might be. The cans and bottles inside are all labelled with a blue or red word: tsumetai (cold) or atsui (hot), because you can buy a hot or iced version of most drinks, not just coffee. Within the city centres, you can also find Pachinko parlours nearly everywhere you go. They are all the same. Cool and sexy anime characters adorn their pink and yellow fronts, and they are always called something flashy like 'Zipang 2'. Inside the loud bleeping and ringing sounds and the strong tabacco odour is so repellent that I have no intention of setting foot in one again.

For breakfast we stopped in at one of the various luxury bread shops. They're not at all bad, but the price tags and decor clearly mark the bread shops as somewhat of a luxury store. I had a walnut and raisin bun. Very good. We took a quick stroll to the nearby Momodani park while eating breakfast. When we got there we found that there was little greenery, and the park was entirely dominated by a baseball court, so we returned to the hostel, checked out (receiving little thank you sweets) and caught our train.

Before boarding the Shinkansen for the last time I purchased a starbucks matcha (powdered green tea) latte to go with my tiny bread, cheese, frankfurter thing. The latte looked like a cup full of green goo, and one could be forgiven for not tasting it on that basis. Though it may not look appealing, the matcha latte is actually quite tasty, though perhaps a little too creamy and not bitter enough for my tastes. We waited on the station. Before long the dolphin-nosed Hikari 446 floated onto the platform with elegance, and we took our final trip on a Shinkansen. 

Looking out the window the towns and cities flew by, again, faster than seems reasonable. Another Shinkansen passed by us in less than a second, and the impact of the air blast was noticeably mitigated by the elongated nose. Sitting at the next station another Shinkansen resembled the passenger row of an aircraft, though the windows were large and shallow, unlike the portholes which stripe commercial airliners. I have mentioned before that the service and comfort is similar (but better) than that of an aircraft. Ed pointed out that you should expect aircraft service when paying aircraft prices. I wonder how much the general staff on a Shinkansen are paid, and if the job requirements and interviews are much tougher than for an ordinary railway. These trains are marvelous. 3 hours from Osaka to Tokyo, including six stops at Kyoto, Nagoya, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Shin-yokohama, and Shinagawa. That's a bit like getting a train from London to Newcastle in 3 hours with six stops. Absurd!

We arrived and said our farewells to that wondrous technology. Finding the 'hostel' (it's really a hotel) was simple thanks to the incredibly explicit directions they provided on their website. On the reception desk they had this sign:

Gotta love the 25 hour day, that extra hour comes in so handy!

We checked in and threw our stuff down. While Ed took a shower I made a rough plan for fitting in all the things we want to do in the short time frame left. The plans seemed to fall naturally into place and, assuming there are no major cock-ups, we might be lucky enough to do everything we'd hoped here, but I don't want to give the surprise away so more on that later.


First we headed off to Ueno Park to have a wander and check out the museums. Most of the museums were about to close because we arrived not far off 5pm, but the most interesting two, the Tokyo National Museum and the Tokyo Science and Nature Museum, stay open until 8. So first we had a look around the park. It's pretty. On one side we found a large lake divided into three sections by three paths which meet in the middle at the foot of a shrine. The reeds bowed down to the winds and the trees roared with delight as we strolled through. I held onto my hat.

The lake at Ueno park

Before long we headed into the Tokyo National Museum. We got lucky; it turns out that the 18th of May is 'National Museum Day', and all the museums are free! Inside, works of art were laid out in chronological order describing the history of Japan, and it was rewarding to see depictions and stories of people and places we had learnt about throughout our journey. I had a certain sensation that the pieces of the puzzle were fitting together, and that names I had heard before were no longer isolated sounds but real stories with actual, tangible consequences. One highlight for me was a calligraphy scroll featuring an excerpt from 'The Tale of Genji', which is still on my 'to read' list. The ink scroll was adorned with petals and leaves so delicate that they at first appeared to be butterflies. Unfortunately some works were photography prohibited and this was one of them so instead please enjoy these exhibits:

Twelve heavenly guardian deities

Partitions depicting Fujiyama bursting through the clouds

Next we went into the Science and Nature Museum. It had a huge iron sperm whale out front as a feature. We weren't sure what we would find inside so we went to the first floor exhibit. It was artistic displays of the bones of Jomons. The Jomon people were the people that lived in Japan around 16,000 years ago and were slightly anatomically different from people today. I wasn't particularly interested in looking at skulls and bones however so I waited outside. Looking in, I watched the living watch the dead. Skulls, teeth, and bones with printed numbers, painstakingly reconstructed into skeletons. 'There are no dead here', I thought, 'there are only white sticks and rocks assembled into the effigy of human mortality'. The living observe with mild curiosity.


We moved on shortly thereafter to what looked like it could be a highlight of the museum: Theatre 360! It seemed to be some kind of domed cinema type affair and, even though we were informed it was just in Japanese, it looked interesting so we queued. After a number of safety briefings (really, seriously, don't lean over the railings!) we were led inside. It was a bridge about 3m wide and 15m long largely made from perspex, except with a black central beam. A white screen surrounded us in the shape of a sphere (or maybe an oblate spheroid I'm not sure). After rapid firing more safety warnings the lady that led us in turned off the lights and pressed play. A globe appeared and we flew around it watching animals be merry. It was an advertisement for Minolta.


Then the show begun in earnest. A black globe appeared above and in front of us, lit only by the millions of dots of artificial lights at night. Incidentally I love these maps! It revolved, was sliced open showing its cores, and then restored. Next we were quickly plunged into the centre of the earth and the screens around us depicted a globe, but viewed from the inside! Italy kicked to the right, and it took a minute to readjust my eyes to seeing something so familiar made to be so unfamiliar. Seeing the globe like this was thrilling though for its simple but clever novelty. Then the world turned black. Blue and red viscous liquids began to flow. I assumed the narrator was describing magma. We elevated and, for a split second, I thought I felt the floor move but it was an illusion. We exploded out of a volcano before floating around the world. The screens went black again. After a few seconds more small coloured spheres fly about and collide. This was the beginning of the universe. Particles stuck together and formed atoms and then molecules. Molecules accrued and formed stars and planets, then galaxies. Finally the narrator mentioned how without dark matter only about 16% of the mass of the universe is accounted for (I didn't understand the Japanese but I figured out a few words and I read Stephen Hawkings' latest book recently). I got a kick out of the film, even though the CGI was mediocre by modern standards, and it was rewarding to be able to look in any direction and see some new part of the show. I also liked the way they presented the story of the universe so concisely and clearly. It must be great for children.


We left and found a cheap tempura place for dinner. It was fine, but nothing special compared to some of the meals we've had. We have to try harder to avoid shops that look like they might be part of a chain!


I am in this country for only a few more days and as I draw nearer to returning to the U.K. I do not feel an overwhelming sense that I'm returning home. If anything I feel, in many ways, like I already am home, or like I'm in a different part of home. Almost like this may be some part of London I've never been to before where people have a strange accent and I can't quite figure out what they're saying. Even so I can get by reading context and body language. It may seem strange or even conceited to say such a thing after only spending a few weeks here. I'm sure I have no conception of what it must be like to live here. But I can't shake the feeling that it's so similar to England, and where things are different it is, usually, rather like they were broken before, but now they're fixed. I'm not saying there's nothing wrong with this place or the people in it, but I could imagine living here one day, if the right opportunity came my way.


So! only 3 days left here! Tomorrow I get up at 4am, which is frankly leaving it a bit late, to go to Tsukiji Fish Market!!! The auctions start very early in the morning, and we have to get there even earlier than that to register to be allowed in as spectators. We'll also try and see some of the Sanja Matsuri if we can


Take care peoples!
Arigato Gozaimashita!