Tokyo in residence
Several days on and I'm still in Tokyo! After all the hopping from train to city to train in Russia I realised that there's a lot to be said for making your home in a place for a while. Fortunately Tokyo's had plenty to offer, and although it may not be the cultural centre that Kyoto is said to hold in store, I've found everything from doing the museums to day-trips or simply roaming the streets all fine ways of passing my time here.
I could have probably seen everything more quickly if it wasn't for a series of late nights induced by watching the world cup with the good folk at the hostel, meaning that by the time I got out and about only a few hours were in hand before most museums shut their doors at 4.30pm. However the pace has been fine, and I feel that on a long trip such as this cramming it all in to a few days isn't the way to go. Nevertheless I've had some good days out, and having a bargain 2000 Yen (10 quid) museum pass has made me target three or four museums and the like in a day, ensuring that if nothing else I've got my value for money, but it's also led to me visiting some sights I probably wouldn't have thought of heading to if I'd had to fork out the admission price each time. From Pandas at the Zoo to scrambling around inside ships at the maritime museum, it's all proven worthwhile, oh and I've seen a Monet or three for good measure too.
Having systematically and on occasion accidentally visited all of the main areas of Tokyo and see as many of the sights as I'd care to I've been turning my attention to day-trips out of the city. Similar to London there's a great number of trains lines heading out of the centre in all directions, and I've found myself on a range of chugging local trains to recommended towns within an hour or two's ride, offering a staggering number of temples, river walks, a giant buddha and charming historical buildings to name but a few, many of which provide a welcome alternative the expanse of Tokyo's modern cityscape.
My love affair for the Japanese continues unabated. Through talking to a mix of foreigners teaching English here and English speaking Japanese (I suppose the two could be related) I've been gaining a interesting insight into the Japanese psyche. On two consecutive days I've spoken to someone in a town I've visite, be it just to ask directions, and on both occasions after we've finished speaking and I've walked off they've come running after me to give me some little gift and asking me to "come back". I asked the locals at the hostel if this was some necessary etiquette in Japanese society but they seemed similarly bemused, so we put it down to these people being proud of their home-towns and wanting to leave a positive image of it upon the hapless wandering foreigner. Well it certainly worked with me!
As with any country it's not all roses, and there are elements of the male dominated society here which don't sit comfortably with the culture of politeness and respect for the fairer sex that we have at home, and the outlets for the more carnal male desires are often rather more obvious than you would like. A Japanese girl I was speaking to at the hostel yesterday had just returned to Japan after nine months in England and realised on arrival that unlike in Britain nobody here was going to offer to help her with luggage. Indeed if you see male and female work colleagues on the metro together it's typically the man who gets the seat while the lady stands.
This said, watching lots of lagered up English football fans at the world cup is all the reminder I need that we're in no position to be giving anyone lessons on how to lead their society. In most other ways I have to say that the Japanese have got things pretty well right. They do like their rules, although in many cases the reams of signs saying don't do this or that are largely advisory, although are followed by the vast majority. For instance requests not the speak on your mobile on the metro seem to be universally followed, and what a joy that is! Anyone who's travelled on a so-called 'quiet carriage' on a train at home knows all too well the ineffectiveness of these self-enforced rules at home.
I am definitely finished with Tokyo now though, and am currently looking through the options of heading northwards, eventually reaching the northern island of Hokkaido, before turn around and working my way to the southern tip calling in at any number of places along the way.
Time for some house-keeping notes then. In addition to photos from the day trips I've been taking I've also set up a section for Japanese signs. The Japanese do like their signs, and often they feature some seemingly random anime-esque character being stuck in metro doors or helping us around the bus route map or similar. Best of all though at the English translations that range from the poetic; "a ceiling becoming low" being one on a sightseeing boat; to the downright bizarre. Less easy to photograph but of even greater entertainment value are what are known as the "Engrish t-shirts". Some of these seem to contain nothing more than a random collection of English words while others are just down-right peculiar. My favourite so far was spotted on the back of a girl's t-shirt while waiting at a train station. It read: "This girl is so danger. Play trick everytime. MY ROMPING GIRL". In case you were in any fear of whether the stereotypically bad English was still alive and well, believe me it is!
From a linguistic point of view the little I've read about Japanese grammar indicates that they don't really use the definitive or indefinite article, so it's common to see bizarre usage of "the" and "a" all over the place. Even on something as prominent as the national train network, on Metro trains you're advised for the "JR Line", indicating there's just the one rather than a massive network of lines going in every direction. It certainly means that you learn not to take everything you read too literally!
The photos as ever can be viewed at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eurobahn
From tomorrow it'll be farewell Tokyo, so I'll be logging-in next from the first internet point I find in the North of Japan.
I could have probably seen everything more quickly if it wasn't for a series of late nights induced by watching the world cup with the good folk at the hostel, meaning that by the time I got out and about only a few hours were in hand before most museums shut their doors at 4.30pm. However the pace has been fine, and I feel that on a long trip such as this cramming it all in to a few days isn't the way to go. Nevertheless I've had some good days out, and having a bargain 2000 Yen (10 quid) museum pass has made me target three or four museums and the like in a day, ensuring that if nothing else I've got my value for money, but it's also led to me visiting some sights I probably wouldn't have thought of heading to if I'd had to fork out the admission price each time. From Pandas at the Zoo to scrambling around inside ships at the maritime museum, it's all proven worthwhile, oh and I've seen a Monet or three for good measure too.
Having systematically and on occasion accidentally visited all of the main areas of Tokyo and see as many of the sights as I'd care to I've been turning my attention to day-trips out of the city. Similar to London there's a great number of trains lines heading out of the centre in all directions, and I've found myself on a range of chugging local trains to recommended towns within an hour or two's ride, offering a staggering number of temples, river walks, a giant buddha and charming historical buildings to name but a few, many of which provide a welcome alternative the expanse of Tokyo's modern cityscape.
My love affair for the Japanese continues unabated. Through talking to a mix of foreigners teaching English here and English speaking Japanese (I suppose the two could be related) I've been gaining a interesting insight into the Japanese psyche. On two consecutive days I've spoken to someone in a town I've visite, be it just to ask directions, and on both occasions after we've finished speaking and I've walked off they've come running after me to give me some little gift and asking me to "come back". I asked the locals at the hostel if this was some necessary etiquette in Japanese society but they seemed similarly bemused, so we put it down to these people being proud of their home-towns and wanting to leave a positive image of it upon the hapless wandering foreigner. Well it certainly worked with me!
As with any country it's not all roses, and there are elements of the male dominated society here which don't sit comfortably with the culture of politeness and respect for the fairer sex that we have at home, and the outlets for the more carnal male desires are often rather more obvious than you would like. A Japanese girl I was speaking to at the hostel yesterday had just returned to Japan after nine months in England and realised on arrival that unlike in Britain nobody here was going to offer to help her with luggage. Indeed if you see male and female work colleagues on the metro together it's typically the man who gets the seat while the lady stands.
This said, watching lots of lagered up English football fans at the world cup is all the reminder I need that we're in no position to be giving anyone lessons on how to lead their society. In most other ways I have to say that the Japanese have got things pretty well right. They do like their rules, although in many cases the reams of signs saying don't do this or that are largely advisory, although are followed by the vast majority. For instance requests not the speak on your mobile on the metro seem to be universally followed, and what a joy that is! Anyone who's travelled on a so-called 'quiet carriage' on a train at home knows all too well the ineffectiveness of these self-enforced rules at home.
I am definitely finished with Tokyo now though, and am currently looking through the options of heading northwards, eventually reaching the northern island of Hokkaido, before turn around and working my way to the southern tip calling in at any number of places along the way.
Time for some house-keeping notes then. In addition to photos from the day trips I've been taking I've also set up a section for Japanese signs. The Japanese do like their signs, and often they feature some seemingly random anime-esque character being stuck in metro doors or helping us around the bus route map or similar. Best of all though at the English translations that range from the poetic; "a ceiling becoming low" being one on a sightseeing boat; to the downright bizarre. Less easy to photograph but of even greater entertainment value are what are known as the "Engrish t-shirts". Some of these seem to contain nothing more than a random collection of English words while others are just down-right peculiar. My favourite so far was spotted on the back of a girl's t-shirt while waiting at a train station. It read: "This girl is so danger. Play trick everytime. MY ROMPING GIRL". In case you were in any fear of whether the stereotypically bad English was still alive and well, believe me it is!
From a linguistic point of view the little I've read about Japanese grammar indicates that they don't really use the definitive or indefinite article, so it's common to see bizarre usage of "the" and "a" all over the place. Even on something as prominent as the national train network, on Metro trains you're advised for the "JR Line", indicating there's just the one rather than a massive network of lines going in every direction. It certainly means that you learn not to take everything you read too literally!
The photos as ever can be viewed at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eurobahn
From tomorrow it'll be farewell Tokyo, so I'll be logging-in next from the first internet point I find in the North of Japan.
posted by Daniel at 5:33 am
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