japan, day four

fourth day started with a trip to the asakusa temple, one of the largest, oldest, and best temples in tokyo --- one of the few to escape our bombs not seventy years ago.  it was a bright, beautiful morning.  many locals were paying their respects.  the smoke in the foreground is incense.  

many locals were about, paying their respects --- simply kneeling in front of the Buddha, tossing coins into a trough, and perhaps lighting a candle.  no pictures allowed inside the temple, naturally: imagine a ten-foot sculpture of a Buddha, surrounded by other lesser statues, other gold items, and fruits.

nearby, the pagoda.  though it's been rebuilt a few times, this building has essentially been there, in this form, since the 1500s.  can't even imagine the craftsmanship and engineering needed to make it happen.

not one single nail, bolt, screw, or otherwise.

next, i returned to the kitchenware/plate district to do some souvenir shopping.  though at first i  hoped to buy some 70's Japan silverware, i ended up with a few bowls, a few cups.  above, a picture of a delivery truck in the neighborhood.  even the trucks are pristine in tokyo.

at long last.  future toilet technology.  heated seat (great idea), push button flush (adequate idea), and bidet function (strange idea).  another toilet i saw later would play a flushing noise to cover up... other noises.  it also had an aroma dispenser.  

there is nothing those japanese won't try to perfect.

after i dropped my purchases off at the hostel, we spent a little time walking around ginza, which is recognized as yet another best place to shop in japan.  i think that makes three that i've mentioned.  maybe it's an eastern thing.  shopping in tokyo wasn't so monolithic a past time as in hong kong, but it was certainly far more important than in, say, chicago, or even new york.

lots of cool architecture and all the major luxury brands that you would expect.  there's no escape.

as the sun set, ryan and i hopped on a train to visit a japanese autozone.  because we could.  ten days was a long trip.  check out this rail car --- no rivets, no panels, just solid sheet metal.  quality.

visiting near the winter solstice was a real blessing.  good lighting.

it was cool to get outside the downtown area, just to see the highway, or get the vibe of the industrial sector.  the japanese autozone was a little underwhelming --- it was essentially the same, with aftermarket car stuff that was a little bit nicer.  

back to ginza after nightfall for a long-ass walk and dinner --- once again, beef and rice bowl.

i discovered a boutique nissan showroom at the biggest, busiest corner of ginza.  inside were two new fairlady z's, a car that hasn't yet been released in america.  nissan was really putting on a show, nights, turntables, fancy brochures and 2001: A Space Odyssey decor.  

that night, our hostel finally became moderately social.  the previous nights, sakura had been all business --- quite literally, two guests in our room left at nine in the morning in suits and ties to interview for jobs.  first, we met a french graffiti artist living in japan to research and earn a little money dj'ing.  then, a pair of frenchies, one, tall and quiet, the other, short and loud.  we had a fun, loud evening with them, repeatedly hassled by the hostel staff to keep it down.

our next morning started a little slow.

long time coming

"Let it be told to the future world... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it."

japan, day three

day three was a little slower than the first, and rainy.  a quick stop at 7-11 solved that problem: the best umbrella i've ever had the pleasure of holding.  sturdy, slick, and clear, so i could hold it close and still see where i was walking.  only 500 yen.

next, we stopped at a small japanese cafe for brunch.  inside, the walls were grey, the seats were worn, the music was smooth jazz, and the crowd of eight japanese grandpas chain smoked their cigarettes.  ryan and i enjoyed our eggs and toast on decades old plates.  it crossed my mind that grandpas may well have served in the war.

our first step was the Tokyo Modern Art Museum.  at the entrance, free umbrella storage.  the way it should be.

inside, however, was a disappointment.  there wasn't much in the way of original Japanese modern art, just carbon copies of every major artist of the twentieth century, from Miro to Pollock to the above Picasso.

only at the end of museum did i find anything worthy.  some japanese artist had taken the time to record himself, and a friend, counting out a million years.  "98,452 BC... 98,451 BC... 98,450 BC..."  a little silly, but it was really effective.

i spent the rest of the day in shibuya, which is usually recognized as the downtown area of Tokyo.  it's the first neighborhood Bill Murray visits in Lost in Translation, i hear.

anyway.

i walked around here for hours, darting in and out of a few stores.  lots of amazing architecture, including one building that looked like a blend of a gothic cathedral and a space station.  peddling disney garbage, if i remember right.  stopped by the bathing ape store, though, mercifully, no fools were wasting their money there.

lonelyplanet recommended a stop by an eight-story hardware-supply store in the neighborhood, as the crown jewel of shibuya.  hardly.  but they did have every last copic marker available.

hours later, and i hadn't found a pair of shoes, a shirt, even some little trinket to waste my money on.

but there was still cool stuff to look at.

especially this.  prius on twenties.  now THAT'S japan.  extra credit for first generation prius.  what's more, we saw another pimped prius, a cherry-red new one, also, rolling on chrome.  wonder how long it might take for this trend to pick up in america...

japan, day two

we set out the next day first for roppongi hills, tokyo's fifth avenue, of sorts.  not before snapping a picture of one of tokyo's beautiful manhole covers.

the hills were a little underwhelming --- too much like hong kong, just ultra-high-end shopping mixed with a few design objects, like the spider sculpture to the upper left.  

walking around the immediate neighborhood was much better.  all the architecture in the neighborhood was different, yet different in similar ways.  the skinny orange building in the middle was one of my favorites.

tokyo tower.  eight feet taller than the Eiffel.  take that, frogs!

my next major stop was the national art center.  excellent building, inside and out.

even better, i was allowed to take pictures of of the artwork on exhibit.  there were rooms and rooms of contemporary japanese calligraphy: large pieces of paper with usually just a few characters rendered, mostly black or dark grey with just a spot of red for the artist's signature.  they're all poems, too.  that i can't read.

a few other galleries were dedicated to more representative works.  this was one of the better ones, really great colors.

this one was easily my favorite.

after leaving the national art center, i stumbled on the 21_21 design museum, the newest art museum in japan.  they had a crazy exhibit about, essentially, experimental furniture.  the main artist's work was growing chairs and lounges from crystallized salt in giant tanks of water.  wild stuff.  another highlight was a bonsai tree frozen in a clear cube of ice.

the museum was designed by one of my favorite architects, tadao ando.  though he's a japanese architect, he has very few works in tokyo, so i was really glad that we made it here.  i wish i could have taken some pictures inside.

afterwards, we went to a nearby mall, the ritziest in tokyo, to have a look around.  after handling some famous japanese products, like this heater by one of my favorite industrial designers, naoto fukasawa, we had some noodles and made way for akihabra.

akihabra is the anime-electronics mecca of tokyo.  i got lost in a ten-story bookstore, then a ten-story electronics-goods-mega-huge-mall.  i spent three hours, easily, wandering around.  isles of nothing but mice, three different displays in the mall where one could by an ipod, just a complete overload of things.  

afterwards, a walk around the immediate neighborhood drained us of all the energy we had left, and we made way back to the hostel.

Google Project

i'm finished. check it out here.

japan, day one

after two days back in hong kong, it was time to travel once again, to the land of the rising sun.  if the villages of people's republic of china live on one end of the eastern world, surely japan rests on the opposite end.  i had high expectations for the trip.  they were surpassed.

the flight to japan was uneventful, save for an excellent tarantino-soundtrack-esque song on the cab ride to the airport, and reading a solid third of president barry's dreams from my father.  which was also excellent.

after landing in tokyo's narita airport, ryan and i confronted our first challenge: a pile of spaghetti otherwise known as the tokyo subway system.  despite the intimidating mess, the system proved simple to navigate.  for the most part...

we spent nearly two hours on the subway, passing through pastoral japan before finally reaching the tokyo proper.  first impressions were as i imagined --- an endless, centerless, dense sprawl buildings, none much taller than five stories, like an old european city.  

baggage in tow, we explored asakusa, one of the older neighborhoods that comprise tokyo's city center, home to most of the hostels in the city.  we counted on the trusty internet to guide us to a hostel.  that was a mistake.

soon we were wandering the used-kitchenware district of tokyo.  this was a great, exciting find, but we were far more interested in finding a bed and a place to stash our bags.  we turned next to our lonelyplanet, which guided us to the sakura hostel, easily the nicest hostel that i have ever seen.  impeccable construction, really clean, and a few japanese gadgets in the bathroom.  the beds were comfortable and longer than hong kong beds.  japan was off to a good start.

we grabbed dinner at our favorite japanese burger chain - mos (mountain ocean sky) burger - before heading to shinjuku, another active japanese neighborhood.

installation artwork in the subway station.  excellent installation artwork at that.  that's the moment i fell in love with japan.

i was not disappointed above ground.  shinjuku was a massive sea of shopping, eating, skyscrapers (tokyo's few), and sex trade.  mostly, though: signs.  very different than hong kong's: grouped tight against the buildings.  such that you could actually read and use the signs.

this sign has a lot going for it.

shinjuku is also one of the hot spots for tokyo's infamous sex trade.  an army of david bowie wannabes (leather jackets, teased-tall hair, painted-on jeans) were ready to guide hapless travelers --- like me --- to any myriad show, or hotel, or bar of choice.  not that i indulged.  the spirit of the street was enough.  

all in all, i spent this first evening putting my finger on the pulse of tokyo.  my first impressions were of a city entirely sophisticated and free from so much of the bullshit that plagues america.

no top 40 in the fast food joints: smooth christmas jazz.

no mess or civic neglect: cleanliness.

no hollister logo tees, no gucci, no prada: thoughtful, muted clothes with hints of bright color

no cold tones: every space for people was warm in value.  i had imagined japan as the city of the future, with gloss and white and silver everywhere.  instead, i found a country that, at first glance, was dedicated to simply doing the best it could do, in any context.

yanghsuo, part six

after moon hill, i hopped back on my scooter for another swing through the villages around yangshuo.  i passed through some large and dramatic new development before i found the countryside.  there, in the distance: a tire fire.

after some time i realized that it was getting late, i was by myself, and it was time to turn around.  not before taking a few more shots.

the next day, my last in yangshuo, was a slow one.  i finally managed to get a picture of one of these, well, chinese model t's.  twenty year old tractor engine dangling off the front.  i couldn't take a picture of the smoke, and noise, it makes when it's running.

before getting on the sleeper bus to return to hong kong, i took a stroll through yangshuo's main park at sundown.  passed by a soviet-style monument to the workers of china, blocky and concrete.  that's as communist as china ever got.

home sweet home.  skyscapers and twelve lanes of traffic.  what more could i ask for?

well, japan.