Sons of Loki

Just when you think you’re working it out, Japan throws you another curveball. Waiting for a table at Kuu, a Japanese-style bar in Nishi-Shinjuku, it slowly dawned on us that the gentle music tinkling in the background was a jazzy rendition of the Pirates of the Caribbean theme, followed by a similar take on “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid.

Yet some have found an easier ascent. I call it the “dark side,” because it’s the easier way to power in the Force—I mean, Japanese. You can stick with Yoda, meditate and lift rocks in the air, or you can choose the quick and easy path, as Vader did, and choke people and shoot lightning bolts.

We won’t say a trip to Rikugien is like stepping back in time. True, the young couples promenading in kimono complement the gentle hills, neatly-clipped keyaki trees and mirror-still lake of this Edo-period garden. The concrete towers of Bunkyo-ku, however, do not.