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Hey! Glad you could join me here in Japan. I've posted a few pictures showing what I've been up to the past few days. I'll be continuing Crystal's Hyperchick Japan Adventures in the July update for the site, so be sure to come back for more.
Wednesday, May 19 through Thursday, May 20
I fly Singapore Airlines on the 2:40 pm flight from LAX. If you ever visit Japan, this is the way to go. Not only is service perfect, with so much food I had to decline the second meal, but the plane is equipped with individual on-demand movies that keep me busy for the entire ten-hour flight. I was surprised to discover that Japan isn't too far away. London is just as distant if you're flying from California. I do lose a day upon arrival, but I'll gain it back when I depart. Very strange to contemplate where that missing day actually goes in the cosmic scheme of things. When my friends Joy and Scott Milanovich pick me up at Narita Airport, a typhoon has invaded Japan. Luckily, it's nothing to worry about. Though it's rainy, it's not cold at all, and the moisture adds a BLADE-RUNNER neon sheen to the lights of Tokyo as we drive through it to my temporary home in Sagamihara. Joy and Scott teach for the Department of Defense, and they live in a housing area near Camp Zama, a military base. That night I experience the ecstasy of Chu-Hi, a sparkling wine soda drink. Rating on a scale of one to ten? Twenty million yums.Friday, May 21
I don't feel much jet lag (yet), so I convince myself that I'm immune and set about organizing my life as Scott and Joy go to work on base. Later, we all visit a yakatori-ya, a restaurant that mainly serves "chicken on a stick." There's a misconception that Japan is all about rice and fish. Not at all. The grub is delicious. This restaurant serves so much more than yakatori: bacon-wrapped scallops or asparagus, raw chicken (Don't freak out--it's good!), and tempura (battered food), among other dishes. I have a "grapefruit sawa" (grapefruit sour) and it requires me to juice my own fruit and add it to the drink mix. Light and delicious. Japan is interesting in that many places don't take credit cards, only yen, but then again, the servers use wireless ordering pads to send requests to the kitchen. It's definitely a land of opposites. An eye toward the future, while keeping their codes and ethics in the past. A love of western culture while firmly retaining eastern roots.
Saturday, May 22
Today I take my first steps into Tokyo! While we only go to Machida, which is on the city's outskirts, I can see what I'm in for. Seas of people pour from the train station, all seeming to know where they're headed. High-rise department stores, nine floors high, spike into the sky. Japanese sales pitches burst out of storefront speakers, inviting customers into their domains. The above picture of this Machida street makes it seem like any other city, and in many ways it is. But once you step through the doors of a department store, you'll notice a distinct difference. First, customer service in Japan is incredible. Here's an example: While buying cheese-stuffed bread and melon custard muffins (yuuuuummmm) from a store bakery, the saleswoman keeps up a steady flow of commentary. I think she is chattering to her co-worker because, honestly, that's how it'd be in America. We're used to indifferent professional attention. But I find out that she is welcoming me, telling me how she is going to wrap the products, wishing me a good day, etc. It's evident that there's great pride in service. And you should see these stores! Everything you can imagine, most of it so darling that you can't believe it. As Scott notes, "Things here reach a whole new level of cuteness." They have teeny-tiny little cards with big-eyed puppies that pop out from the paper. One bag I couldn't help buying shows a little cartoon bear going Raaaa! while a kitten waves hello; the caption reads "Bad Bear Versus Good Cat." I have no idea what this means, but I have to buy it. Would you be able to resist? As you shop, you'd notice more kitsch: book covers exploding with anime color and energy (even if it's a book about cooking or computers) and a definite school-girl fetish going on, too, as I can see from many magazine covers. At this point, much to my dismay, jet lag catches up to me. What an insult to my infallibility!
Sunday, May 23
Day trip time. See Joy and Scott on the "romance train"? (Just so you know, many "americanized" names here don't make a lot of sense--think of that department store bag with bad bear and good cat--so I have no idea why this is a romance train.) We ride in comfort and speed, then transfer our way to Atami. We don't have any idea that this seaside hot spa town has the reputation for being a bit "naughty," but we'll soon find out on our own. The first thing we see is a cluster of black lava rock spouting steam; people have their pants rolled to the knees as they bathe their legs in a long tub of hot water. (Bathing is a national pastime. Seriously.) We have lunch at a ramen house while braving the attentions of a very drunk guy who wants to test his English on us.
Yes, that's him. We aren't sure what he's saying to us most of the time (I think it's because he's toasted, not because of any language barrier), but he's really excited that we're American. He sings a couple verses of "Come on, baby, do the locomotion" to us and we nod our heads politely, at a total loss as to how we should react. Is this how international incidents start?
We escape unscathed, followed by apologies from other people in the restaurant. Joy and Scott, who have a working knowledge of Japanese, think that the other people were chiding the drunk man for giving their country a bad reputation. We don't mind so much. It's a funny picture and an amusing cocktail party story.
We come upon a geyser which explodes every few minutes. Oddly enough, it's located in the middle of town, near an office building. It's one of the three largest geysers on earth, rivaling Old Faithful in Yellowstone. There is a gravestone for a dog who got scalded by the water. Poor little Toby. However, we are undaunted by the danger of the hot springs, and we soak our feet (OUCH!) in a free public tub on the boardwalk. Then, we're off to Atami Castle, which peeks out at the town from the mountainside greenery.
We ride the sky car to a station where snacks and amusements are served. Here, you see a sort of "fortune telling box." A group of old men with umbrellas put in their 100 yen (a little less than a dollar) and watch as the toy geisha fetches their fortune from a tiny house. This is how it works: If the fortune is good, you keep it. If it's bad, you tie it on the box's side. The first old man has "Good luck," he says. But the second? "Only a little good luck." He keeps his parchment anyway. On our way up to the castle, we see that there's an Adult Museum, but since it costs 1700 yen, we decide to forgo it. Too bad, because there's a very intriguing plastic turtle with a phallic head outside. I wonder what we're missing. Onward to the castle.
To me, Atami castle looks like a squat pagoda with its elegant lines. Inside, there are displays showing samurai armor and weapons. Dioramas depicting other castles. A gift shop where the saleslady aims a hairdryer at a geisha towel and the clothes disappear to reveal...yup. Naughty, naughty Atami. And if we need further proof that we're in a sassy town, we stumble into an "erotic Japanese art" exhibition in the castle's basement. I won't describe what was on those lithographs, but I will tell you one thing: Remember those gentlemen from the fortune box? One of them walked up to a picture, held his thumb and forefinger up to a certain detail, then closed the space between, saying, "Imitation. Not so big."
Saucy Atami.
Monday, May 24
I'm ready to go all alone into society. Solo. Me against the world. I figure a decent way to start will be to travel to the Tokyo Disney Resort and visit the DisneySea park. We don't have one of these in California, and I hear that the Disneyland section is pretty similar to our own miracle of Imagineering, so I choose the less famous of the sights. I brave the train to Shinjuku Station (which has two million people passing through it per day). It's rush hour, and a conductor is literally pushing passengers inside. We're eating each other's hair, it's so crowded. Salarymen (businessmen) are plastered against the windows. I survive and am ready to do Disney.The following pictures are for all you Disney-philes out there. : )
Upon entering the park, this is what greets you. DisneySea is based on several "ports of call": Mediterranean Port, Mystery Island, Arabian Coast, Mermaid Kingdom, The Lost Delta, Port of Discovery, and an American Port. The above picture shows a Renaissance part of the Mediterranean (which has three more distinct flavors besides this one: Florence, Venice, and a village). The volcano, which erupts every so often, is part of Mystery Island. All in all, DisneySea is certainly worth the time and money.
One of the park's major thrill rides, "Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull" is very much like Anaheim Disney's Indy attraction. It's a trip, though, to hear the actor substituting for Harrison Ford grumbling in Japanese. Dr. Jones sounds way more ticked off at the tourists for being there.
Silly me thought that the ride "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" would actually take us underwater in one of these cool subs. Just like the old Disneyland CA subs. Remember those? <sigh> This ride follows almost the same story line, but it's revamped in a major way. You never get submerged, but it sure feels like it.
Don't you just want to go to Venice right now? This is the Disney version, of course, complete with Japanese accents saying, "Bon giorno" and singing opera as gondeliers navigate their boats under faux-crumbling bridges.
Impressive? Yeah. Here's the Mermaid Kingdom of Triton, Ariel's daddy from THE LITTLE MERMAID. The entire "land" is inside and underground, all neon and bubbly music. This is basically a kid's area, but the atmosphere evokes the movie perfectly.
A taste of ALADDIN in the Arabian Coast. This carousel gives you a hint of the winding bazaar streets, the stately architecture. There's a cute "Pirates of the Caribbean" type ride that follows the adventures of Sinbad, plus a 3-D genie show for the younger crowd. That's what I've done so far. Too bad you can't taste the food or talk to the people. I think there aren't a lot of people who realize what an incredible country this is. The stress level is low, there's no road rage, and there's a significantly positive attitude that permeates all aspects of life.This is what I have in store for the next couple of weeks, so visit next month for the further exploits of a very lucky writer.
•Kyoto via bullet train
•Toba/"pearl island"
•The heart of Tokyo
•Hakone, with a stay in a ryokanCatch you later!
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