I’ll freely admit I didn’t make the most of my time in Tokyo. Part of it is because all my late nights in Kyoto caught up to me and I had to spend a few precious days resting back at the hostel, but also I think it took me too long to get into the Tokyo mindset.
When I first arrived in Tokyo, I had trouble figuring out what exactly one does there. Instead of recommending specific things to see, all the travel guides recommended going to an area and just…walking around. After Kyoto – and pretty much everywhere else I’d been in Japan – I’d gotten used to sightseeing by going to a place and looking at a thing. Get out at the subway station, walk however many minutes, spend a few hours gawping at a temple or pagoda or castle, and then you’re done. Tick off the box and go to the next thing.
Tokyo, I realized belatedly, is about the atmosphere.
I only really figured out on my last day here that much of the Tokyo experience is just walking the streets, people-watching and exploring the little nooks and crannies. My mistake was in going looking for something, rather than just sitting back and letting the place surprise me.
And Tokyo has plenty to surprise me with. The main thing: Tokyo is huge. I already knew that it’s (debatably) the largest city in the world, but it still kept finding little ways to remind me. I’d exit the subway beside a six-lane thoroughfare, go up a flight of stairs, and end up next to a four-lane highway built over the thoroughfare I’d just left.
Okay, that might be a less-than-impressive example (“Roads on top of roads? We sure ain’t in Regina no more, Toto…”). One thing that did make the scale of the city evident was how, even with the world’s most extensive and efficient subway systems, it could take up to an hour to get from one ward to another. A bit of a headache if you’re staying in one of the sleepier suburban areas like I was, but still remarkable.
Tokyo is also an aggressively modern city, in weird and beautiful ways. One of the neighbourhoods I managed to visit was Akihabara, the self-styled “otaku” (nerd) district, where the skyscrapers were covered in glaring neon lights and semi-trailers blasted music as they towed advertisements down the main streets. On the street corners, young women in maid outfits waved at passersby and handed out flyers for their cafes, where you paid presumably absurd amounts of money to be served by a “kawaii” maid. Not to my tastes in the slightest, but I have to wonder what life is like for these women, making a living at a weird intersection of infantilized and sexualized.
On the beautiful side, though, I was able to get out to the TeamLab Borderless exhibition, a fascinating digital art display. In a building the size of an industrial warehouse, we moved through rooms of mirrors, animations, and light shows, constantly moving and often reacting to your movements. In one exhibit I remember walking into a dark, seemingly endless room of glass panes, cautiously advancing deeper and deeper with my hand outstretched towards a distant figure, finally coming face-to-face with myself at the end of the room. An unforgettable experience.
At the end of the day, I’m not kicking myself too much for missing out on Tokyo. The pace I was setting meant I was due to get a little burnt out by the end of the trip, so I wasn’t able to approach the city with the amount of energy it needed. Considering how much more there is to see and do in the country, I’m sure I’ll do another trip to Japan in the future – I already have half the itinerary in my head (Tokyo, Nagano, up to Hokkaido…). So there’ll be opportunities to make up for missed time.
On that note, I’m writing this from the Tokyo Narita airport, waiting for my near-midnight flight. It’s the end of the Asia leg of my trip. I’m off to Europe.
Europe was always the goal of this trip. Don’t get me wrong: these past three(!) months in Asia have been the trip of a lifetime. But I’ve never been to Europe, and I’m really excited to finally be able to visit a part of the world I’ve heard so much about but never experienced.
For example, my starting point: Istanbul – gateway to Europe. Throughout my history degree I learned bits and pieces about Byzantium and Constantinople, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how they all come together on the historic streets. After that…who knows? It’s an adventure.
Onward!
Harmon Moon 