Old style Tokyo & Old Skool 8-bit clubbing

It's sunday today. Went to bed at 06.00 and woke up at 13.30 so am a bit jetlagged today. Hung out at Yoyogi park and did some homework in the cafe, takin it easy. An excellent evening to write some tokyo stories.

Saturday, 26 Jan

Started the day off in Yanaka (谷中）, an old Tokyo neighbourhoud far away from neon and crowds. The wooden houses and pop-mom shops reminded me of a mixture between the Beijing hutongs and a sleepy French town, and life's a lot slower around these parts of town. It's a breath of fresh air to know that these kinds of places still exist in Tokyo, to give some counterbalance to the Ginzas, Shinjukus and Shibuyas.

I walked around the neighbourhood and crossed the cemetary, which are much more open places than in Holland. Here people just walk their dogs here and supposedly also go Hanami (blossom) viewing in spring, as if it were a park. It's not a place which you'd rather avoid or really need a purpose for going as is the case in Holland. Still I decided not to stay here and get a suntan or something, so I went on with my expedition.
I stumbled upon the neighbourhoods shopping street, called Yanaka Ginza (which may have been a bit over the top to call it ginza (after the most expensive designer store street)). Everything looked so delicious and I was hungry. But I still don't really understand how things work here. Although there an amazing amount of food stalls and people take their food to go, nobody eats it on the street, it's just not done. So with bags of snacks I would have to travel hours to either find a place where nobody's paying attention or take a 60 minute subway ride home.

Desilusioned by this unpractical impairment, I had to walk past the whole street of goodies and find a restaurant. There would probably be some good authentic old-style cooking nearby. I mean, this is one of the most low-key part of tokyo how hard can it be?

And yes, five minutes later I was sitting in a Turkish chairless tableless restaurant with persian rugs on floor and from wall to wall, with pillows and people smoking water pipes. I must have walked too far heading west. And, I will never use the common term, 'he speaks dutch like a turk' again, as the waiter was turkish and rattled at me in fluent Japanese and was surprised I didn't really rattle back that much, because I still speak Japanese like a Turk... I mean, well, a Dutchman. Anyway the food was great, all kinds of turkish and persian 'tapas' were being handed out to everyone in the restaurant whenever they made something new. And I since was by myself that day, soon enough I made friends with the other Japanese guests, the first people I really had the chance to talk to here in tokyo for a longer amount of time in the 'wild', instead of either being introduced to or already knowing them from before. Bit scary, eh.

So after this authentically Japanese gastronomic experience I decided to head back to crowded Shinjuku, where a mcdonalds is a mcdonalds, a department store is a department store and a noodle house is a noodle house and where things are more normal.

There I went to the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Building, a super-high governmental building in west-Shinjuku. As you can see in the pictures was much better than that clouded day in Yokohama. And, not unimportant, it was free. It was really amazing, as I was there during sunset and the view made me forget the 200 Korean tourists who enjoyed the view with me that day. For a moment.

As the day came to a close, 15 of my classmates and I prepared for an encounter with Japanese retro gaming culture. Yes, A party from 12 .00 to 05.00 in the theme of '80's 8-bit famicom (=Nintendo NES) music mixed with the wildest beats. There was also an contest of who could finish level 1-1 of Super Mario Bros. the fastest. Having done this level over 1000 times as a kid, I knew I was going for gold. You could only try once and the only thing that mattered was time.
So me, being a pro in this game, started my turn at one of the consoles near the entrance of the club, while a Japanese staffmember of the party timed me. Two seconds. I let mario jump right in the arms of the first goomba and that was it. I guess the pressure was too much.
So a classmate tried next and ran into the same goomba. Bad day for the dutchies.
Luckily the party was great. All kinds of bands performed. And 350 Japanese +16 Dutchies went wild. 'Sexy Synthesizer' was my favorite. Didn't have my camera that day but will try to get some live footage from classmates.

Wow this has become a long story, hope you are still with me, reader, will keep it shorter next time. Will just stay at home the coming week so that the stories get shorter ^_^ (=the smiley used here in Japan) // Sayonara!

Kill Bill

Friday, 25 jan

Had dinner today in the restaurant that inspired Quentin Tarantino's restaurant in Kill Bill. It's name in Gonpachi, and is located in in a wooden house the middle of Roppongi, the expat area of Tokyo, between neon and high buildings. The restaurant looks great and you have to slide wooden screens to suddenly see a restaurant full of people devouring yakitori and ramen. Very authentic. Except for the part that is was full of foreigners, which is not supposed to be like that: I saw it in the movie :)



But where's Uma?


Having a great time....

Yokohama 横浜

Snow in Tokyo yesterday. Bad weather, windy, very cold and slippery. So why not go to Yokohama? It's more southern, about as south as the distance between Amsterdam and Utrecht, so tropical weather awaits us. Not so much.

So I went to Yoketown with two of my classmates. Yokohama has a lot to be proud of, for example it has the highest tower in japan named appropriately, the landmark tower. It was raining and the top of the tower was in the clouds: excellent circumstances to go up to the 68th floor observation deck, as you get a whopping 300 yen discount (2 euro's) when it's raining. Also we got a free drink, and being Dutch, that really convinced us to spend 700 yen on this adventure.

Spending a few seconds to get to the top (the building has the world's second fastest elevator, surpassed only by the recently built tower in Taiwan), the view was, well, interesting. It was a fun game to take a picture exactly in the seconds that a hole between the clouds would come up. Anyway we could still see part of the view and it was a cool experience, and supposedly the night-time view is great, so i'll definately come back.

After that we spent some time in a widely built mall and in a picturesque shopping street that reminded us of some french provence town. You can really feel you're outside of Tokyo, as it's less crowded and somehow built more spacious.

Of course, myself being 'chinese' according to practically everyone, I went to the largest chinatown in Japan which is based in this city. When at breakfast I told my classmates I was going to check out chinatown in Yokohama, someone said, 'ah, going back to your roots, eh'. And I must admit it was nice to be amongst the chinese again. The agressive hawking of 'hello, postcard, hello map' was something i missed in Japan :).
Also got my mobile engraved, which I bought a few days ago. We went to the stall and it cost 2000 yen to let him engrave a phoenix or dragon by hand. He spoke to us in english. After I asked him if he spoke chinese, my unpleasant chinese bargaining skills came bubbling up and I kept complaining and shouting in mandarin until the poor old man was left only 500 yen. But he liked us so I think my karma is still ok.


The 700-yen view.


no comment



One of yokohama's shopping streets. I have no idea why I'm pointing.


chinatown. complete with kitchy laterns, which I endorse.




name of art piece: boku to keitai (me and my mobile)

Karaoke! カラオケ！

Sunday was a slow day, as we drank a bit too much beer during a karaoke session saturday evening. We managed to get a room for 16 Dutchies, and after quite a few pitchers we were nearly breaking down the joint, dancing on the table singing golden oldies such as: macarena. Hm, I guess you had to be there :)
Although it was a hell of an evening, there was no Japanese in sight so since I decided I should make a bit more effort integrating, so I got in touch with a few Japanese classmates from my time in Beijing to avoid becoming a sleasy dutch expat.

Embassy Paati (大使館のパーティー）

It's been a while since the last post. We have been sweating for our self introduction speeches and the new classes that have started at Japan Netherlands Institute. Last thursday we finally gave our speeches in Japanese in front of all contact persons of the companies we are placed at (which is Canon in my case). After this nerve-wrecking event we were treated to a dinner party at the house of the Dutch ambassador, a colonial mansion where we were served french delicacies and chatted in japanese and exchanges name cards with our business contacts. Life was tough that evening. But we survived. The Dutch bitterballs and cheese were kept in the freezer for now. Perhaps on Queens day?

Friday we were dead tired and after class just bummed around in Tokyo.

Saturday I decided I needed a break from tall buildings and the crowds so did a solo trip to a beach park as the weather was sunny and not to cold. There I sat alone on a pier, reading my travel guide and pondering about life's difficult questions, such as where to go for lunch. Returning back to town, I was ready again to face the urban, kanji-filled jungle.

SUMO!

Nothing like a good sumo fight to get your mind off things, such as the introductory speech we need to give on thursday in front of our host companies in Japanese.
Being totally ignorant in the field of sumo, I was surprised that the average sumo fight lasts about ten minutes, of which ten seconds actually involve wrestling and the remaining 9.50 minutes is spent with scaring and staring, throwing salt on the floor and trying to get the opponent out of its concentration. But it's a great thing to see and when the fight really starts, the crowd goes wild and a few seconds later someone hits the floor and a new match begins between two other sumo wrestlers. Myself being a total sumo culture barbarian, I had no idea who the sumo wrestlers were, exept for when it was the yokozuna's turn (grand champion of last year). Not so hard though, since the whole audience started cheering at that time and the announcer said 'yokozuna', so I got the hint. Anyway it was great!

Oishii Sushi!

We were treated to professional Sushi today by the Japan Netherlands Institute today! They invited one of the most famous Sushi chefs in Tokyo and Sushi was made in front of our eyes from scratch in the classroom. The maguro (tuna) was excellent as we got the most tender (and expensive) part of the tuna called otoro. Ate raw sea urchin for the first time. Last time too probably. Think I'll stick to refined otoro, ebi and salmon. Oishii!
We were invited by the Sushi Chef to come with him to the inner circle of Tsukiji fish market somewhere in the future, which is the largest fishmarket (and even largest food market) in the world. The most interesting are the auctions, which are held in the inner circle, held at 5 a.m. This was a very special offer of the sushi chef because the inner circle is strictly off limits to the public, only for real wholesale buyers. And since none of us intends to buy a 10.000 EURO tuna...we could use the sushi chef's connections...

It also was 'Seijin no Hi' today, the coming of age day which is held once a year. Women who become 20 dress up in kimono style and become an adult. We stumbled out of the instute after our fourth serving of sushi and went to the temple to look for them, but the seijin no hi party was all over. Luckily we met some of them in the picturesque Tokyo Chikatetsu (subway).

Looking forward to tomorrow: sumo season's on, and will probably watch one of the sumo fights with some classmates. Will refrain from entering the competition this year, hope to get a chance next year.

Sony Building

@Ginza, Tokyo, 11-jan

Took a look in the Sony building today where all their newest gadgets were on display. My favorite was the Rolly, and had to restrain myself not to spend 40.000 yen (=€ 300 euro) on speakers that can dance. Hope that I can survive these 7 monts without buying (too much) useless gadgets.



The Rolly, speakers that can dance, how can you not buy them?



with a width of 180cm, height of 118 cm and weight of 100kg, this must be the king of flatscreens. Don't think I've seen these yet in Amsterdam.

Akihabara

@Akihabara, Tokyo, 10-jan

went to Akihabara and went nerd watching. We turned in to nerds ourselves and were reluctant to leave this disneyland of game arcades, manga, and electronics as far as the eye can see. Went to this place called Softmap and was the most exhausting electronics-related experience I ever had. a 7-Storey of mobiles, cameras, tv's no bigger than your ipod. No windows, bright light and it felt like half of tokyo's inhabitants were there at the time (which is actually a normal feeling almost anywhere in tokyo). After we went out of the building, we noticed the second 7-storey building of Softmap accross the street. Absolute electronic horror.



Me, over-fanatically trying to beat a JPP classmate at a drumming game. Luckily I did or I would have been onconsoleable.


On the verge of breakdown after a 1-hour safari at 'Sofmap' - Akihabara branch




The Japan Prize Winners Programme is a programme where potential future leaders of Dutch society can get in touch with Japanese culture. The video shown above is an example of the research we do in Japan.

Tokyo is big

@Tokyo, Japan

Konnichi wa!

I am writing you in a state of severe jetlag, dehydration and cultural shock, so bear with me if this post is not of a prozaic high standard.

After being roasted for 12 hours in the JAL airplane at an estimated constant temperature of around 30C, there we were: Tokyo. We were efficiently ousted through customs and our luggage was a three-minute wait.

After an introductory speech by the institute, naturally the first thing we did after we were set free to explore is find a nice sake bar. I can tell you, 1 sake + jetlag is sufficient to put your lights out. So that was a short evening.

After having done all the necessary foreigner paperwork at city hall the next morning, a few classmates and I headed out for some lunch. We found this authentic japanese restaurant where we intended to eat some interesting local stuff, However, after asking for a table in Japanese they shouted to each other in Chinese leaving us to slurp some noodles wearing a paper apron and leaving me to speaking Chinese when the Japanese got to difficult....Totemo benri desu! How convenient!

The afternoon was spent in Ginza, an extremely expensive area which dwarfs Amsterdam's p.c. hooftstraat and is Tokyo's answer to Manhattan's 5th avenue. Every Japanese person on the street was perfectly dressed and stylish as hell. Then I went to Shibuya, where the young people hang out and are perfectly dressed and too stylish for comfort. Shibuya is what I typically imagined tokyo to be. I sat at Starbucks (sorry, it was a nice location, ok?) and took some pictures of the view of people crossing on a wednesday afternoon. .
I hope to find some non-stylish people in this city to boast my self-esteem. So will probably head for Akihabara tomorrow; the 'nerd' part of town. Put they're probably still stylish as hell.

Anyway, had a great day today. I think I'll stay here for a while. Seven months or so.


Did I take a wrong turn somewhere?


Just another day in the Tokyo subway


Preparation for noodle slurping



Shibuya on a slow day

All aboard to Tokyo!

@Amsterdam, Netherlands

In about 24 hours I will see holland getting even smaller than it already is: from the sky, on the way to Tokyo, Japan!
Tokyo, an idyllic Japanese village on the east coast, will be my home for 7 months.
Don't worry. I will try to behave myself as much as possible. I think.

Will keep you posted!