Konichiwa Japan!

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I got into Tokyo on Tuesday around supper time. Went from Seoul to Busan using the fast train in Korea, then took the over night ferry to Shimonoseki (Japan). Finally took the bullet train from Shimonseki to Tokyo and arrived around 5 pm. I wandered the city streets looking for a place to stay that would be within my budget and ended staying at a internet cafe. Remember this is Japan and internet cafe`s are probably not what what you think they are: Showers, free coffee, tea, juice, pop, televisions, dvd players and video games all come included in the hourly rate which is approximately 3$. You can even rent a very small sleeping room that has all of this stuff in a small cubicle for about 20$ a night (the floor usually is soft cushioning and has a pillow and or beanbag). You`d be surprised at how clean the nicer ones are, such as Namboo.

There are some things I already love about Japan and others that I miss about south Korea. I’ve been to the Ghibli museum (the Walt Disney of the east) and it was simply amazing (truly). I made friends with a bar owner and his trusty employee and have been there the last two nights in a row, learning about Japanese culture and food. The owners English is quite good and I`m always surprised at how tasty the food is when I try a new dish.

I met a few other Japanese people and one of them is a Disney Land Tokyo employee. He actually gave me a “one day” free pass so that`s what I`ll be doing tomorrow! That was really a big deal (the passes are expensive). I was truly appreciative that he decided to give me a pass. I was suppose to go today but I ended up staying up last night until 7 in the morning ;-) I wandered the streets taking pictures and I had a great time: It`s the only time Tokyo seems calm.

Got stopped by a Japanese police officer because we were riding two ie “double” on one bicycle at 3 in the morning. Although I don`t understand Japanese he explained that 1 = ok, 2 = “no”. He did this by crossing his arms. Luckily for me the Korean/Japanese I was with took care of the situation. I guess the cop thought the bike might have been stolen because we were riding it late a night.

My hostel is in one of the poorer neighborhoods but still very safe. The hostel itself is much more like a university dorm than a hotel but the staff are friendly and the place is kept clean (thought it`s pretty old). What the hostel lacks in style it makes up for it by being in a neighborhood full of homeless people and three legged cats ;-) I read online that it used to be one of Tokyo’s nicer neighborhoods many decades ago. It`s still nice but late at night you can find a lot of homeless sleeping together on the streets if you know where to look. Can`t say this enough though, totally safe.

The train system here is absolutely crazy. The first day I was just confused (I was very tired so that didn’t help). On the second day I got a good understanding of how the line numbers worked and how to navigate the system. What is extremely surprising to me is the efficiency of the system and how often the trains go by.

Several times I will get onto a platform and not be certain which train I should take (the one to my left or the one to my right). A train will pull into the station and I will simply not get on because I want to double check my map. I usually don`t even have time to finish checking my map when another train will arrive. There`s really no point in sitting down in a chair if you miss a train, the next one will be by in just a few minutes. I have also never before seen so many people in trains, it`s truly something to experience. On the 3rd day now felt like I knew what was going on. The only issue is that some terminals have only Japanese, no English so it`s easy to miss a stop if you`re not paying attention.

The sex industry (prostitution) is huge here. Somewhere in the trillion dollars a year in revenue. Most of it is behind closed doors but depending on the neighborhoods you can get hassled by the (mostly black dudes for some reason) men trying to get you into their clubs where the girls are. I think in that regards I preferred Seoul’s “designated areas” for this purpose. In both cases (Seoul and Tokyo) police stations are usually not far away from these neighborhoods or directly in them. The police patrol on bicycles or on foot and keep a close eye on the situation.

It`s fascinating to a westerner (the whole sex industry) and in all honesty i`m of the same opinion about prostitution that I am about drugs: They should legalize it, tax it properly and get into place support systems for the workers/users. Put some of the tax revenue into education, prevention, rehabilitation but get it away from the crime aspect. Right now I think many young women get lost in the money and in Japan it`s not uncommon for the prostitutes to have unprotected sex (crazy if you ask me). Not sure about Seoul, as I told my Korean friend I don`t think I could ever pay for sex and everything that entails: worrying about all the sexually transmitted diseases. None the less the subject, the people and the neighborhoods where all of this occurs fascinates me. I`m at the end of the day just a pervert after all ;-) If you have the urge to comment and rant on the evils of drugs, prostitution and sexuality have fun.

The video game arcades are also immense and huge. You have complete neighborhoods dedicate to Manga (Comics as we may call them in North America). Manga comics come in every color and subject (from perverted sex cartoons to educational material to real life stories, manga in Japan and Asia is as acceptable as any other book). People of all ages read them and you can find them in almost every corner store, not to mention that they have buildings with many floors completed dedicated to them. I spent a little bit of time wandering the arcade, manga and toy neighborhoods. To a geek like myself it`s heaven but most of the material is in Japanese. The arcades are years ahead of us and I`ll cover it in detail in a post on the subject.

I’ve only been here a couple of days but one of the things I love most about Japanese people is they social attitude of “be respectful and polite to others”.  They don`t talk on the cell phone in the train! Signs ask people not to smoke while walking, signs asking people to place their cell phones off or on vibrate near the elderly.  I really wish North American culture would pick up some of their habits.  The Japanese way of thinking is interesting and supposedly very hard to crack for westerners.  They just have a different mentality all together.  Fascinating stuff and I really wish I spoke more Japanese.

Finally I leave you with a little joke (no offense meant to the Japanese people) but even the trains here are perverted! On some trains the mechanism/doors which allow you to walk between cars make a squeaking noise.  This noise (again only on some cars) truly sound like a woman moaning in pleasure.  I`m just being honest here, not trying to be rude! On more than one occasion I kept looking around me on the train with a “what the fuck is going on?” look because I was wondering where the sound was coming from.  After it happened on a few trains I finally figured it out to my relief =-)

I`ll have individual post with lots of pictures on all the above subjects once a rainy day comes along.

All the best,

mtl_dokkaebi.