TOKYO
I finally comprehend the hour plus commute to working in Tokyo. It's a real maze, but it manages to overcome all possible adversity and actually work! I have new found respect for the train systems in Japan. MM lives within Tokyo Metro (as the train line run by the same name proves), but just getting into the JR Loop at Shibuya takes at least fifty minutes alone. That is not to say that where she lives is suburbia. Chuorinkan is no suburbia. And it is definitely not like where I live. Then, there's the subway within the "business district"; add another thirty minutes to hour. Luckily, MM doesn't live in the CBD area... But I've definitely had enough of train-ing for a while.
I've "learnt" a lot in the last week. I've learnt that, all things considered, my lot here isn't all that bad. I was recently told to my disbelief that where I stay is actually rather "desirable"; I pay a very competitive rent (not to mention subsidised by the company), I live "near" Osaka City, all thirty minutes of a train ride, and I'm close to nature and greens. Still, if you've heard me whine, you'll know that desirable is relative afterall. Relative or not, it still means I still have a blessed lot.
For starters: I pay 450yen for a 30 minute rapid train ride into Osaka loop. MM pays 330-400yen for a 57 minute express trainride into the loop. After subsidies, I still pay a lower rent than MM even though she lives 50 minutes from the loop. Also, my work conditions which wern't fantastic to begin with still sound like a better deal even though we do the same thing for the same company. So, I'm learning to be happy with what He's given me.
Now, the exciting parts. First on my list of to-do's in Tokyo was to sample the creative buzz lurking under the repressive culture; I saw the YES Yoko Ono exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo and the exhibition of Flemish & Dutch paintings, including works by Ruben, van Dyck, Rembrandt's self-portait and Saint Paul amongst his other works and Vermeer's Allegory of Painting from the Collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Ueno Park.
For Culture and Religion we went to Asakusa Senso-ji which was cool.. and Meiji-jinja where I spotted royalty walking around the shinto grounds there! Unfortunately, it was lost on me. I didn't know who they were? Still, I took snaps like every other lemming. In exchange for all this, I had to endure two full days of shopping. Oh what a chore! But even shopping can be very interesting if only for the people-watching...
Spent a full days walking around Shibuya, Shinjuku and Harajuku until my feet were so sore... Well, while MM and the lot from San Francisco were in the stores, I spent most of my time waiting outside the shops, camera in tow. Especially around Harajuku's Jingu-bashi. Enter the Cos-play-zoku, the Costume Play Gang, bedecked in Goth make-up, a mixture of SM queen arch-vamp, lots of black taffeta, fishnet stockings and blue lipstick!
I did get a noren (japanese door curtains), a few japanese fans and an Italian-make expresso stove-top maker. Hurah! Now my pad looks more me. So we dragged our weary bodies to Tokyo Bay where I enjoyed my first proper onsen. We had to get into proper yukatas (summer kimonos) to enter the vicinity and fully disrobe at the baths. Loved it! I want to go again! In the harem, all cultural and traditional inhibitions are lost. All the pink bouncy flesh bodies put me right in Ingres' Le Bain Turc! The real thing!
And we had such a swell time in Tokyo Bay that we missed our last train from Shibuya... which left us only two options. Stay in the city which involved either 5 girls in a Japanese Love Hotel *ahem* or night in a Capsule Hotel. OR, take a US$100 cab ride home. Guess which one we opted for? Well, since we were going to MT Fuji the next day and needed the gear at home we didn't have much choice. But it wasn't so bad cause gotta catch some bona fide Tokyo Biker gangs in action on the way home. Money cannot buy you a place on the set of Akira!
And so, we headed off to Mt. Fuji. Hhrrrmm. It's a big volcanic mountain and its peaked with snow this time of the year. We didn't reach the top cause one of our party members came down with a stomach bug so that hindered our attempt. But it was nice and pretty all the same. I'm already planning my next trip with Keely, to catch the 4 am sunrise for a long weekend hike and stay overnight at an onsen.
And then, to polish off a week, the last day was spent browsing at Akihabara, aka Electric Town (Denki-machi), the Electronics mecca. No doubt I was green with envy and started saving for my next piece of technology. I'm getting a bit frustrated with the limited capacity i can do with my ... ...
I've "learnt" a lot in the last week. I've learnt that, all things considered, my lot here isn't all that bad. I was recently told to my disbelief that where I stay is actually rather "desirable"; I pay a very competitive rent (not to mention subsidised by the company), I live "near" Osaka City, all thirty minutes of a train ride, and I'm close to nature and greens. Still, if you've heard me whine, you'll know that desirable is relative afterall. Relative or not, it still means I still have a blessed lot.
For starters: I pay 450yen for a 30 minute rapid train ride into Osaka loop. MM pays 330-400yen for a 57 minute express trainride into the loop. After subsidies, I still pay a lower rent than MM even though she lives 50 minutes from the loop. Also, my work conditions which wern't fantastic to begin with still sound like a better deal even though we do the same thing for the same company. So, I'm learning to be happy with what He's given me.
Now, the exciting parts. First on my list of to-do's in Tokyo was to sample the creative buzz lurking under the repressive culture; I saw the YES Yoko Ono exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo and the exhibition of Flemish & Dutch paintings, including works by Ruben, van Dyck, Rembrandt's self-portait and Saint Paul amongst his other works and Vermeer's Allegory of Painting from the Collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Ueno Park.
For Culture and Religion we went to Asakusa Senso-ji which was cool.. and Meiji-jinja where I spotted royalty walking around the shinto grounds there! Unfortunately, it was lost on me. I didn't know who they were? Still, I took snaps like every other lemming. In exchange for all this, I had to endure two full days of shopping. Oh what a chore! But even shopping can be very interesting if only for the people-watching...
Spent a full days walking around Shibuya, Shinjuku and Harajuku until my feet were so sore... Well, while MM and the lot from San Francisco were in the stores, I spent most of my time waiting outside the shops, camera in tow. Especially around Harajuku's Jingu-bashi. Enter the Cos-play-zoku, the Costume Play Gang, bedecked in Goth make-up, a mixture of SM queen arch-vamp, lots of black taffeta, fishnet stockings and blue lipstick!
I did get a noren (japanese door curtains), a few japanese fans and an Italian-make expresso stove-top maker. Hurah! Now my pad looks more me. So we dragged our weary bodies to Tokyo Bay where I enjoyed my first proper onsen. We had to get into proper yukatas (summer kimonos) to enter the vicinity and fully disrobe at the baths. Loved it! I want to go again! In the harem, all cultural and traditional inhibitions are lost. All the pink bouncy flesh bodies put me right in Ingres' Le Bain Turc! The real thing!
And we had such a swell time in Tokyo Bay that we missed our last train from Shibuya... which left us only two options. Stay in the city which involved either 5 girls in a Japanese Love Hotel *ahem* or night in a Capsule Hotel. OR, take a US$100 cab ride home. Guess which one we opted for? Well, since we were going to MT Fuji the next day and needed the gear at home we didn't have much choice. But it wasn't so bad cause gotta catch some bona fide Tokyo Biker gangs in action on the way home. Money cannot buy you a place on the set of Akira!
And so, we headed off to Mt. Fuji. Hhrrrmm. It's a big volcanic mountain and its peaked with snow this time of the year. We didn't reach the top cause one of our party members came down with a stomach bug so that hindered our attempt. But it was nice and pretty all the same. I'm already planning my next trip with Keely, to catch the 4 am sunrise for a long weekend hike and stay overnight at an onsen.
And then, to polish off a week, the last day was spent browsing at Akihabara, aka Electric Town (Denki-machi), the Electronics mecca. No doubt I was green with envy and started saving for my next piece of technology. I'm getting a bit frustrated with the limited capacity i can do with my ... ...
The photo you've been waiting for; poised in a yukata with ikebana behind me and all that!
Not just a pictorial allegory of Tokyo; The Mob at Shibuya.
They're everywhere you go; Ticket line at Shibuya.
Audio: Wonderwall by Oasis on VirginRadio UK
Biblio: Bushido: The Soul of Japan by Inazo Nitobe.
Cerebrio: I can dread work tomorrow or think of it as a 2-day work week to the weekend! YAYYY!
posted by The Chilibuddy @ 10:03 pm ::
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