TOKYO TRIP, PART III - FINAL

9月18日 - Day 4

My post-Yokohama high from yesterday ended early this morning when I received a "Sorry, I can't go to Tokyo Disneyland today because of work" text from Reika.

Disappointment at 9 a.m. doesn't usually make a great rest of the day.

I needed an alternative plan. No one would pay $60 to go to Tokyo Disneyland, one of Japan's top date spots, alone. I needed to think of someplace that, no matter what, could help me forget my major disappointment.



UENO ZOO
So I hopped the subway and rode to Tokyo's Ueno Zoo. The zoo, an animal sanctuary encircled by neighboring skyscrapers, is known best for its giant pandas. As an avid panda fan, this was a must-see spot.




After unloading $6 for a one-day pass, I ran to the Giant Panda House and stopped in surprise at this sign:


No giant pandas?! Disappointment of the day #2.

It's a fact, though, that cute, fuzzy animals can be therapeutic to people in distress. Luckily, I was surrounded by acres of them, and as I had hoped, the zoo helped me forget my forgotten plans.






This is what cell phones really are for. :)

I love how everything in the zoo is educational, like this chart of an elephant's insides. 

Not sure if I even know what coffee jelly is...

Ueno Zoo also had this Thai pavilion, a peace offering from less than two years ago.

On my way out of the zoo, I noticed a booth selling panda-shaped, cream-filled sweets. I talked with the older woman running the booth about being from America, and because the zoo was closing in ten minutes, she threw in extra panda sweets in the bag for free.  


Too cute to eat!

I nibbled on the warm panda sweets on my way to Shibuya, Tokyo's best-known shopping district. This was actually my third time traveling to Shibuya, my first time alone, so the world-famous crosswalk, the red neon-lit Shibuya 109 department store sign, the street musicians playing for their big break and not for money, all of this seemed like another home. Well, a tourist-filled, consumer-driven home. 

Anyone who knows me well or has traveled with me knows I hate looking like a tourist. So what did I do? I grabbed a Hana Yori Dango manga volume from Tsutaya, bought a drink from Starbucks (like the locals), sat at a table near the large window panels and began reading. Poof! Instant local look-a-like. (Kind of.) 

While I was sitting at the window, I looked down at a crowd of girls swarming a black limousine. I saw only the two bodyguards at first, but then I saw a poster for AI's "Best Of" album and finally, signing autographs and posing for cell phone photos, the R&B/hip-hop artist herself peeked out from the tinted limo windows. 

My first celebrity sighting in Shibuya! (Even if it was just a short promotion.)

I then walked around the streets of Shibuya for almost five hours, checking out a few shops and stopping to watch a live filming of some show (Shichi-san?) featuring a boy band I had never seen before. This is what I love about Tokyo's layout: walk far enough and you'll stumble across some TV or radio station filming a live show, usually one that is open to the public.

On the short train ride back to Shinjuku, I saw an ad for Tatsuya Fujiwara's new movie, "Kaiji," for Ayumi Hamasaki's new partnership with Rimmel London cosmetics and a third ad for Kazunari Ninomiya's newest TV special, 「天国で君に逢えたら」. It was like I stepped into a train car personalized for me with some of my favorite celebrities. 

I managed to open the door to my hotel room before collapsing on my bed. Five hours of walking through Shibuya after two hours at the zoo made sleeping that night so much easier.

9月19日 - Day 5

Otherwise known as "Yokohama Trip #2," I took the train (express this time, which saved me 35 minutes) to Yokohama for a day at the museums. 

If you walk past Yamashita Park and the rest of the harbor, you'll eventually find the Japan Broadcast Library and Newspaper Museum. For a journalist like me, this is the educational jackpot. 

The broadcast library cost nothing to enter, and the second floor showcases a fake TV anchor desk (where children can pretend to be newsanchors and record their "broadcasts" with a green screen), light-up figurines of famous cartoons from the mid-1900s to today (including Sailor Moon and Pikachu), and the special feature of the month, an exhibit on Osamu Tezuka's "Atom Boy." (I really wish photos of this place had been allowed.)

The newspaper museum, on the other hand, was small and cost 500円 to enter. This month's feature is a Japanese newspaper in Hiroshima celebrating its 50th anniversary with an interview with animator Hayao Miyazaki. Museum goers could trace the newspaper's history back to its post-World War II origins and leave the museum with a copy of the issue with Miyazaki's interview. 

Stepping out of the newspaper museum building, I noticed a Christian wedding at the old Western-styled church across the street. I wasn't close enough to get a good photo, nor was I far enough to not look creepy if I did take a photo of people I didn't know, so you'll have to imagine it yourself. Sorry. 

9月20日 - Day 6

(flight home)

YOKOHAMA DREAMS: REALIZED

Eight months ago, I had a dream.

I vowed then to visit Japan's second-biggest city, Yokohama. To gaze across the bay, walk past the red-brick remains and ride one of the world's tallest Ferris wheels.

Welcome to the resulting post about the successful "OPERATION: YOKOHAMA DREAMS."

9月17日 - Day 3

For those who are planning to visit Yokohama, let me issue a warning: Yokohama Station is a 20-minute walk from the bayside attractions. The city is so large, street maps close to the station don't extend far enough to lead tourists to Yokohama Bay.

So I followed the strong winds and smell of fish.

Yokohama is where I want to live when I'm older, much more affluent and successful at my job. To use a simile exercise that reminds me of middle school standardized tests, Tokyo is to New York as Yokohama is to San Francisco.

Half an hour by subway can transport you from Tokyo's hectic nightlife to Yokohama's easygoing, romantic daytime atmosphere. In one word, Yokohama is just...airy. The parks are clean and well tended to, and skyscrapers are so few that tourists can see the bay from within the city.

Who needs my explanation? Let's show some photos.

UNDER YOUR FEET: Yokohama's importance as a port city is reflected in almost everything, including its manhole covers.





Moving in the opposite direction of the bay led me to numerous shopping malls, the World Porters fresh food market with familiar restaurants like le bon pain and Cold Stone Creamery and a market of souvenirs celebrating the 150th anniversary of Yokohama's port opening. 




COSMO WORLD: Yokohama's theme park, Cosmo World, is home to one of the largest Ferris wheels in the world.



PERSONAL SPACE: I waited until nightfall to ride the Ferris wheel. Because I was by myself, I rode alone - all the better for taking pictures with my Nikon D300.

NEON IN THE BAY: As I continued to move higher, I photographed the carnival rides below with a slow shutter speed.

VIEW FROM THE TOP: I pointed my Nikon's lens downward through the window and took this shot.

I spent another late night in Shinjuku, afraid of traveling anywhere far and then missing the last train back, which would mean walking alone in the wee hours. It was during this midnight rendezvous I discovered a dessert stand that not only sells hot crepes filled with ice cream, chocolate sauce and whipped cream, but also stays open late. (This is most likely for tourists like me who will spend $4 on a crepe that locals wouldn't touch.)
I remember sitting at one of the stand's tables, eating my crepe filled with chocolate syrup and strawberries, and thinking, "Summer, I've finally found you." My friends in Indiana were already a month into fall semester, but I was enjoying a break from Sapporo's chilly temperatures in my last few days before classes began again. This was my summer vacation of 2009.
I passed another hour walking up and down the streets, occasionally stepping into a store with late-night hours. My second-best discovery of the night - after my favorite crepe stand - was that Tsutaya, the music and movie conglomerate similar to Best Buy or Fry's, stays open until 2 a.m.
I could literally listen to new releases in American and Japanese music until I fell asleep. Or until 2 a.m. Whichever came first.

空を見てごらん。夜が明けるだろう。今ここで新しい日々が始まってゆく。。。

"Look at the sky. The day's breaking, right? Here, now, a new day is beginning..."

Arashi - "Namida no Nagareboshi"

Hello, Blogger. It's been a while. Forgive my lack of postage - computers in my Shinjuku hotel lobby were too expensive to use for thoughtful blogging. Ten yen per minute racks up like crazy, especially on old-school computers with dial-up modems.

So, for part one of my solo weeklong travels in Tokyo and Yokohama:

9月15日 - Day 1

The efficiency of public transportation here never ceases to amaze me. Only 230円 (about $2) for a bus from my apartment to the downtown Sapporo train station and 1090円 for the express train to the New Chitose airport. I arrived with two hours to spare before boarding, enough time to find my airline, buy breakfast, study kanji and eventually realize I had left my cell phone charger in my apartment.

An hour and a half later, I was walking around Haneda Airport, sweating from the heat and the exertion it took to hoist my two duffel bags. Rolling luggage is an amazing luxury, one I should have taken with me.

Ten minutes later, I had found the ticket booth for the airport limousine service, bought a ticket to Shinjuku for 1200円 and was standing in line for the super-comfy coach bus. The highways in Tokyo wind around like a multi-layered racetrack, so the trip to Shinjuku took almost an hour. Eventually I was dropped off in front of Shinjuku Station, where I had my mid-afternoon epiphany: I had been there before. Last summer, with my KIIS classmates as we spent our first night out in Tokyo. Whew. Relief. I knew my way around just from memory.

What I loved about staying at the Shinjuku Prince Hotel: Even in the heart of one of Tokyo's busiest districts, the staff talked to me only in Japanese. I guess part of the reason is that I look culturally ambiguous; that is, I'm often confused for French or Italian (or even Japanese if you can't see my bright blue eyes), so they aren't sure whether I can speak English or not. I was even asked what origin my name was when they checked my passport and alien registration card.

My 16th-floor room overlooked the tops of karaoke parlors and Kirin beer ads. After little sleep and a long day of buses, trains and planes, I felt a little under the weather. I grabbed a salad and onigiri for dinner from a Lawson convenience store down the street and spent my night inside, with a bit of "Lost in Translation" loneliness, reading a new Arashi magazine I had picked up.

SHINJUKU: From the window of my floor's lobby, I could see Shinjuku's pachinko parlors, karaoke rooms and pawn shops.

9月1６日 - Day ２

The next morning, I woke up to Tokyo's heat at 11 a.m., magazine photos of Japanese celebrities spread out next to me. Feeling better but still a little weak, I decided to head to Harajuku, only two subway stops from Shinjuku and close enough to return to my hotel quickly if I felt worse.

NOT THE STEREOTYPE: Harajuku, a "normal" shopping district by day

Harajuku at lunchtime on a Wednesday is not what most people think of when they imagine the fashion mecca. Everything was airy and cheerful, not crazy wild and bright, and few people were wearing the typical non-mainstream, Gothic Lolita-type costumes. In fact, the only crazily clad shoppers I saw were a group of European tourists who appeared to have dressed up in anticipation of Harajuku's reputation. Um, try again.

In honor of Arashi, whose articles and photos kept me company the night before, I first headed to the Johnny's Entertainment shop, one of four in the country. Despite the company's incredible popularity, the shop is located down a back street behind a few clothing shops and some construction work.

JOHNNY'S HARAJUKU: OUTSIDE

The shop itself is small, with a patio complete with tables and umbrellas for friends to wait while their friends continue to shop.


Even the patio's trash cans have the Johnny's logo on them.


Going inside Johnny's means battling with high school girls to squeeze closer to the walls of official photos and concert memorabilia. Each wall is classified by group, including NEWS, KAT-TUN, Kinki Kids, Tackey and Tsubasa, Arashi and Johnny's Jr. The store's most popular item: its photo collection (totaling 1600) of each group and its individual members. The glossy photos themselves are the size of a postcard and cost 150円 each (about $1.50). Photos are grouped in order of when they were taken, and I was suddenly jealous of the schoolgirls around me who could just hop on a train to Harajuku to buy more photos when their favorite artists released a new video or photo shoot. So lucky.
I think I spent about 20 minutes choosing which of the several hundred Arashi photos I wanted, dodging the super-enthusiastic MatsuJun fangirls to get closer to the Nino and Sho sections. If you have $200+ available, there's the option of buying one member's complete photo set at once. (I was tempted, believe me.)
After selecting my favorite photos, I grabbed the rest of my merchandise and headed to the register.

The most embarrassing thing? Each photo rings up with the singer's name in katakana on the register's screen (and your receipt), so as I stood in line, when the cashier typed in each photo's code, people standing behind me knew exactly who I was a fan of. (*cough* Sho *cough*)
Then again, if you're in the Johnny's shop with other fangirls in the first place, you can't be all that ashamed.

So this is the result: 52 photos (9 Arashi, 4 Nino, 11 MatsuJun, 1 Aiba, and 27 Sho), 1 KAT-TUN uchiwa, 1 NEWS uchiwa, and the official 2008-2009 concert season penlight wand. Almost exactly $100 later, I left very happy.

As I backtracked down the same narrow street I had come from, a familiar flash of stoplight-reminiscent yellow plastic diverted my attention from the eclectic row of clothing shops. One blindingly bright plastic shopping bag, then another, until I turned down the next street and followed the trail of shoppers to my staple of American shopping.

Before me, ahead of the crowded sidewalks of fashion junkies, was the unmistakable Forever 21 logo.


My two years as a sales assistant at the Forever 21 branch store in Indianapolis' Castleton Mall paid for part of my college tuition and, ironically, my trip here.
As I watched excited teenage girls take photos of the four-story building with their cell phones, I realized two Black Fridays and holiday shopping seasons in the largest mall in Indiana couldn't prepare me to work on a regular Wednesday here.
The line of waiting customers extended beyond Forever 21, winding down the sidewalk next door outside Harajuku's H&M store. Policemen stood at the entrance, regulating the flow of women and glancing at the group of bored men gathered near the street. The crowd was so suffocating within the store, I left after only checking out the first floor.


I wandered around the streets of Harajuku for the next two hours, bypassing other Western brands like Gap and Lacoste for hole-in-the-wall boutiques selling wooden, bohemian-style jewelry and custom-made T-shirts. The blending of Japanese and non-Japanese ads gave the streets an international appeal, and on one street I could see a billboard featuring Ciara, Emma Watson's Burberry ad and Arashi's newest AU by KDDI cell phone campaign poster while standing in one spot.

SKY-HIGH PROMOTIONS: Fashion magazine companies advertised their publications by creating billboards from their cover designs.

One block from Harajuku's famous Takeshita Street (see later post), tourists could watch popular DJ personalities interview celebrities live in a small, glass-paneled booth. Sorry - photos weren't allowed.

My long day of traveling ended "home" - if that's what I could call it - in Shinjuku. Reika, a former college classmate of mine and native Japanese student, properly explained all of Shinjuku's less-famous attractions and treated me to dinner at a yakitoriya I would have never entered on my own.

Eating alone in Tokyo is a little overwhelming, so I had limited myself to small cafes and Japanese-style fast food to avoid any awkwardness at a formal sit-down restaurant. This was the first, and only, time in Tokyo I could sit and eat without feeling conspicuous. Chicken kabobs made from the butt and wings, chicken with mochi (sticky rice), salad and mixed vegetables with rice kept me busy while Reika and I discussed graduation, jobs, Sapporo and Ball State.

Five hours later, Reika boarded the second-to-last train home and I returned to my hotel. The Kirin beer signs glowing behind the sheer window curtains no longer seemed melancholy, and I fell asleep with a smile and a full stomach.

TO BE CONTINUED

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: 嵐 「涙の流れ星」

A DROP IN THE OCEAN, A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER...

I love NEWS ZERO.

I was intrigued by the news broadcast program when I first switched on the TV back in May to see what crazy Japanese talk show options I could get. NEWS ZERO's timeslot falls right between the top-rated dramas of the month and the late-nite adventures of Johnny's boys on shows like "Arashi no Shukudai-kun" and "Cartoon KAT-TUN."

Speaking of Arashi, if you tune in to NEWS ZERO on Monday nights, you might recognize a certain rapper co-anchoring and occasionally reporting on youth-related topics. Yes, on top of his many talk show, acting and other Arashi-related responsibilities, Sho Sakurai - who graduated from Ivy League-esque Keio University with a degree in economics - also is a TV journalist.

(Sho is the one on the right, in case you need a hint.)

The set has a clean, polished feel and everything - from the graphics to the camera quality - screams "We embrace our technology." The lighting also seems 100x better than the sometimes-abnormally bright fluorescents glaring on newscasters' faces in America. Then again, this IS a national broadcast and should have the reputation of one, both technically and journalistically.

One surprise: the theme song at the end of each show, played like the end credits to a movie as B-roll from that night's top stories is reviewed. I first thought it was a commercial, not expecting the slow, almost melancholy music.

Tonight's telecast focused on South Africa's improvement (or lack thereof) in equality between races since apartheid was established. The narrator's voice reminded me of Dateline's murder mysteries, with long pauses and dramatic sentence pronunciation. NEWS ZERO isn't exactly the most unbiased, unemotional news program, especially when only one or two interviews are included in a 15-minute feature.

After each news item is finished, the panel of 3 or 4 journalists then DISCUSS the matter with each other. Whoa. (As an American journalist, this surprised me most.) The main host (who sits in the center) calls on each of his colleagues to give his or her take on the situation.

Finishing off tonight's telecast was a short discussion about the current issue of The Economist, which features an article about Japan's change in political order with the election of a new majority party. My favorite part: Sho and his coworkers amazed that the publication's designers used katakana on the cover image.

Message to all designers: Use other languages on your feature story, and you might get some international attention.

For a link to the article: The Economist