Fear and Loving in Tokyo - Musings from panhead_pete

[panhead_pete 27]

Just thought I'd spend a couple of minutes summing up the last couple of days in Tokyo whilst I am traveling back to Nagano and then the mountains on the Shinkansen (Bullet Train). Tokyo is a series of contradictions, in some ways like myself. Its immense in size, OK well I’m not immense in any way and Australia really can only claim to have two cities (Melbourne and Sydney) but then you find such small beautiful places whilst walking, that are serene and colorful, unlike the drab overcast grey color of so much of the never ending medium to high rise sprawl that emanates from the city central, well any city for that matter.

 

If someone, somewhere, thinks they have the ugliest apartment blocks, I am sure after all this traveling now that someone, somewhere will have one uglier and if they don’t someone will be building one to beat it anyway. Having said that the grey is almost soothing as a complete contrast to the mad neon nights of Ginza where whole building facades are giant LCD screens, blasting out brash commercial images just as you see in your kitchen on that little white Samsung hung in the corner.

 

There is people everywhere, queuing, eating, being polite, drinking beer in the street, some trying to out do each other with wacky clothes, others conforming totally to homogeneity, then again others who are having their own little rebellion with a belt buckle you might see holding up a pair of leather pants on a junkie wanna be rock star but this time being worn to hold up some suit pants being worn by another over worked professional who has had a tad too much to drink within the mosaic frescos of the Lion Ginza Beer Hall. Or an immaculately dressed guy in a stylish tailored suit which would fit comfortably into a Paris art gallery opening but worn with some Goth like pointed shoes with a multitude of buckles more then likely listening to Nine Inch Nails rather then the "So Chic" CD put out by SBS to celebrate the French Film Festival.

 

And then the girls, the beautiful young girls in their tiny micro minis and high high boots. Hooray for that! Big warm smiles. no bums, small boobs, strolling down the street hand in hand in what could be the start some cheap Asian porn flick, but instead of being part of a scene with the words uttered "I have come to clean ze pool" they are just out having fun and enjoying the hustle and bustle as you are. Being more a hips and tits man myself and loving a round bum, which so few Aussie chicks have too, I found the Japanese girls, whilst stunning, cherub like rather then some sexual temptresses. Although with each day in country I can see and feel that view changing and completely understand how some gaijin never go back. Will I?

 

Tokyo has some giant multi lane inter city roads, where it appears Rio Tinto and BHP must have hammered in their safety mantra with iron resolve as no one cross the road against the red man, even at the smaller side streets people wait, waiting for that green man to appear and restart their lives. I stood there too, wondering if in the cacophony that is happening around them that this small break might be an island of solitude but with no Gilligan, no skipper, no ranga in an evening gown, perhaps a quick recharge place. Well if they were recharging their Eveready’s there, I sure missed the plug in point. Whilst they stared bleakly across no man's land, these stops gave me an opportunity, an opportunity too look around and soak in the vibe, and liked being baptized, although this time I didn’t scream, just smiled, I Immersed myself in what I saw, mind you I didn’t get religion but at times it could have easily been a religious experience.

 

Shinjuku is an amazingly vibrant area with the prerequisite high-rise office and hotel blocks which suffer from the obvious signs of the rectangular lack of architectural ingenuity prevalent all over the world in the 80s, but fortunately that dominant paradigm has now been smashed with some of the great building we now see around the world although perhaps its been taken too far when a building looks like a giant pointed tiffany eggs resplendent with all the jewels. None of that in Shinjuku though.

 

But what it lacks in elevated integrity, it makes up for and far exceeds this definably with cultural integrity in the back alleys and hidden corners. Small smoke filled restaurants where the delectable fumes emanate from the wood fired grill embedded in the front of the bar and all the staff return a shout of Haigh, each time your waiter yells an order across the din. Vibrancy rules as people stop in on their way from work, as they do all over the world, to have a beer and a chat with a mate and find solace in each other, something that is becoming lost in Australia due to urban sprawl and drink driving laws I guess. If this bar tonight was Cheers, who would be Norm, who would be Sam, does it matter? Me, I just a small bit player that floated into one scene and left just as quickly after a stand up meal of pork and beans washed down with a couple of divine beers are a day's walking and gawking, soaking and smiling, a great day in a great city, sorry Paris, this is now my favorite city to date. I hope you understand......

[JellyBelly 1]

Great post!

 

That deserves to be read by more people than will see it here - Snow Talk of Off Topic move perhaps?

[HelperElfMissy 42]

[thursday 1]

good ramblings.

[big-will 7]

Fab stuff.

[stemik 14]

interesting write up.

[best skier in hakuba 5]

Escape before one of the gals gets her hands on you

Or is that, stay...

Thanks for sharing good read.

[panhead_pete 27]

Thanks guys, appreciate the props. Its my 1st attempt at anything like that and I was a tad nervous posting it as it was originally just an email for a mate.

[nagpants 1]

Brilliant. Loved reading that.

 

Quote:

no bums, small boobs, strolling down the street hand in hand in what could be the start some cheap Asian porn flick

 

 

I would change "no" to "petite", sounds so much better.

[RobBright 35]

Interesting musings, while I don't agree with everything (no bums?! ), I do miss that sense of awe and innocence I had when I first came here.

[Chriselle 158]

Originally Posted By: best skier in hakuba

Escape before one of the gals gets her hands on you
Or is that, stay...
Thanks for sharing good read.

He obviously escaped that delicious black hole known as......ROPPONGI...

[panhead_pete 27]

Yeah I need a good editor nagpants, point taken. I have the 1st chapter of a book in really rough draft written in the same vein. My fav books have been "On the road", "Fear and loathing" etc and between a group of mates have had some amazing experiences....

[blu 3]

interesting thesis pete