Sons of Loki

Tokyo may have a reputation as one of the most expensive cities in the world, but even backpackers on a budget can scrape by with a few tips.

In its 1,400 year history, the Japanese capital of Tokyo has faced catastrophic earthquakes, annihilation by numerous great fires, and massive Allied bombardment
in WW2; surviving these to rebuild as the biggest city in the world.

Over 30 million people, a quarter of the entire population of Japan, live in the Chiba-Tokyo-Yokohama conurbation, a sprawl of architecture which stretches as far as the eye can see. Every year, millions of tourists from around the world flock to this unique Asian gem, an exotic, blazing and ever-exciting fusion of East and West. It has been more than 150 years since American Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay with his fleet of US Navy steamships, forcing the isolationist Tokugawa government to open up trade with the west. These days, there’s no need to make as dramatic an entrance: and not even a lack of funds need stop you from experiencing the best that Japan’s dazzling capital city has to offer.

The best place to immerse yourself in the hustle and bustle of modern Tokyo – without spending a single yen – is the area around Shinjuku Station. The station sees a whopping 3.6 million passengers every day, making it the busiest station in the world. At rush hour, it certainly feels like it.

A raucous and motley swarm of Tokyoites hurry to-and-fro between platforms: grey-suited, stern-faced “salarymen”; impeccably made-up “OLs”, or “office ladies”; the occasional older figure in a kimono; schoolchildren in immaculate uniforms; and, if you’re lucky like I was on my first day, the unmistakable sight of a rikishi , or sumo wrestler, in traditional dress. Outside, enormous crowds surge to work or play across one of Tokyo’s hectic six-way pedestrian crossings.

Shinjuku lies on the west side of Tokyo’s 23 core divisions, or wards. The western districts of Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Ikebukuro, previously the upper-class area of Yamanote, today comprise a contiguous series of huge commercial and entertainment hubs, whereas Taito and Bunkyo, the quieter areas east of the Imperial Palace (Shitamachi, or “low city”) enshrine a great deal of Tokyo’s historic areas, including ancient Buddhist temples and beautiful areas of parkland.

West of Shinjuku, the major Tokyo business district of Nishi-Shinjuku features wide-open and airy streets surrounding the slender, elegant skyscrapers of the biggest Japanese companies and exclusive Western-style luxury hotels. The angular twin towers of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, opened in 1991, feature twin observation decks on the 45^th floor and offer breathtaking views of Shinjuku, Tokyo and beyond: on exceptionally clear days, you may be lucky enough to glimpse the white dome of Mount Fuji, 60 miles distant.

Be sure to go at dusk and enjoy a coffee while the sun sets and Tokyo lights up, notably around the lavishly-illuminated Tokyo Tower, a 332m tourist trap built in 1958. Tokyo’s enormous sprawl, glittering from horizon to horizon with the light of 30 million inhabitants, is a spectacle difficult to forget.

From there, you can continue for a drink at the New York Bar, located on the 52^nd floor of the Park Hyatt Tokyo hotel. Prominently featured in Sofia Coppola’s 2003 Lost in Translation , the bar’s sumptuous atmosphere of high-class luxury complements the equally stunning views from the enormous two-story windows and the nightly live music from accomplished jazz acts. While the cover charge of 2,000 yen after 8pm (7pm on Sundays) may seem rather steep especially considering the pricey drinks, it’s worth it to enjoy a hour or two of the jet-setting lifestyle of Tokyo’s elite without shelling out a whopping 60,000 yen for a single night in the hotel.

Unfortunately, for the most part, Tokyo’s nightlife can do a very good job of separating foreigners from their money. The Roppongi district, a hotbed of bars and clubs popular with the ex-pat community, has a great deal of perfectly respectable and popular drinking establishments; but stories abound of hapless tourists coerced by hustlers into seedy Yakuza-run bars where the bill can quickly run into the tens of thousands of yen and where things can get very ugly if you try to dispute the cost.Even the more respectable clubs have exorbitant cover charges and are generally quite small and cramped. Instead, for a club that really lives up to Tokyo’s reputation of ultra-hip nightlife, try WOMB in fashionable Shibuya. A low-key exterior conceals the enormous dance hall inside, a cavernous hangar-like space three stories high. On the dance floor, hundreds of sweaty Tokyo youths gyrate to house and techno served up by a host of international DJs.

After a night of Tokyo’s charms, free entertainment can be found in Harajuku. A district between Shibuya and Shinjuku in western Tokyo, this is where flamboyant Japanese youth culture reigns supreme. The clothing in Harajuku is not so much fashion as fancy-dress: elaborate frilly dresses are the hallmark of Gothic Lolitas, while for other Tokyo youngsters it’s like punk rock never died. Take a deep breath and dive into the crush of Takeshita Street directly across from Harajuku Station, where shops with names like Sexy Dynamite are the
norm. If you’re lucky, you might catch a busker or two on the road outside the station, eager to be noticed.

For a more sedate experience, visiting Tokyo’s parks is an inspired way to unwind. Ueno Park is a great way to waste an afternoon strolling along the wide paths, mingling with the crowds, and watching performers near the towering fountains of water. For a different experience, visit the beautiful Japanese-style gardens at Rikugien. For a paltry 300 yen, you can visit quaint little teahouses hidden under towering trees, marvel at meticulously manicured lawns, and enjoy 88 scenes from famous poems recreated in miniature around a serene central pond.

While Tokyo may not be able to beat the sheer number of temples and shrines in Japan’s historic capital Kyoto, the ancient Senso-ji temple in Asakusa is a fine example of Buddhist grandeur, having been around as long as Tokyo itself – and it’s free. Beyond the enormous Kaminarimon(“Thunder Gate”) with its giant red paper lantern, a crowded avenue of souvenir shops bustles with tourists in the daytime and early evening. Return late at night, however, and you’ll find a very different experience. In an empty courtyard, under the bleached night sky, the temple buildings loom ominously, yet serenely.

For more materialistic concerns, head to the Ginza shopping district: the home of upmarket department stores like Wako and Matsuya, as well as big name fashion boutiques. The high prices, however, mean Ginza has little to offer except window shopping for those on a budget.

For electronics, Akihabara is the undisputed capital. Though
the big name stores like Laox offer duty-free shopping for foreigners, the real bargains are to be had in the smaller, messier shops hidden down back alleys and up dimly-lit stairwells, offering dirt-cheap state-of-the-art equipment made in Japan.

Tokyo has no shortage of hotels. Pleasant, if rather mundane business hotels offer single rooms from around 10,000 yen and doubles from 15,000 yen. I stayed with Sakura Hotel, a backpacker-orientated company who offer bargain singles from 6,090 yen and doubles from 8,200 yen in a central location with friendly, bilingual staff. The hotel’s sister organisations are worth checking out too: the clean and professional Sakura Hostel, located very close to the Senso-ji temple in Asakusa, has dorm beds at 2,940 yen; and for stays longer than a month Sakura House have 185 long-stay guesthouses across Tokyo starting from 39,000 yen (£190) per month for a dormitory and 48,000 yen for your own room with a shared kitchen. For a room of your own, you can’t beat the cheap and cheerful The Koenji, well located, clean, and just 2,500 yen a night.

Vending machines everywhere sell drinks, hot and cold, for 100-180 yen. You can eat well and in true Japanese style at fast food restaurants like Yoshinoya, where a big plate of rice and Japanese-style curry will set you back only 400-500 yen, with a cup of miso soup and a glass of water thrown in for free. In a pinch, combini (convenience stores) offer ready-to-eat sushi, sandwiches, and microwavable meals for a low price, and the ubiquitous 99 yen shops can feed you on the cheap.

Japan’s rail network is internationally renowned for its efficiency and the trains in Tokyo are exceptionally clean, safe, and reliable. JR (Japan Rail)’s Yamanote loop line circles the core of Tokyo, with trains every two minutes and clear English displays in every carriage. As well as JR’s numerous train lines, Toei Subway and Tokyo Metro lines criss-cross the city. Tickets can be purchased from English-speaking machines and are priced by distance, costing around 110 to 270 yen for short hops around Tokyo. For those perplexed by often-confusing network maps, the best option might be an Oyster-style prepaid smart card: the competing Suica and PASMO cards can be charged up with up to 20,000 yen after an initial 500 yen charge. They work on all subway, bus, and most train lines in Tokyo: they can even be used to pay at vending machines.

If you’re planning to travel throughout Japan, an absolute bargain can be had with JR (Japan Rail)’s Rail Pass, which offers free travel on all JR lines throughout Japan except the Nozomi Shinkansen (the fastest of Japan’s famed bullet train services). A seven-day Rail Pass costs 28,300 yen, which compares favourably with the 26,440 yen fare for a return ticket between Tokyo and Kyoto. Bear in mind, however, that if you’re planning to stay in Tokyo the Rail Pass will probably cost you more than you save.

How to get there

Almost all international flights touch down in Narita Airport, located 70km from Tokyo, but you can catch JR’s Narita Express service from the airport’s two stations to Tokyo Station, which takes 55 minutes and costs 2,940 yen (free with the JR rail pass). Alternatively, the rival Keisei line offers the Skyliner for 2400 yen (36 minutes) or the bog-standard Limited Express service for 1000 yen (80 minutes). Avoid taxis, which will set you back 30,000 yen.

A sweet man just came by from Tokyo Electric for me to pay my bill (only 1,200 yen, which is nice). Packing went a lot easier when I saw that I can take my mandolin as carry-on luggage. I’ve thrown loads of stuff out, though it still seems to be all here. I’m moving out.

I’d be lying if I said I felt desperately sad. It bothers me that I’m not bothered by leaving, because the truth is that after about three days back at home the truth is going to sink in and I will be a miserable wreck. I’m just looking forward to the confusing and complex task of “leaving Japan” being over, from a practical standpoint. It’s really complicated! There are forms! Stuff to return! I have to take photos and say goodbye to people! I haven’t had a second of downtime (except when I got stuck on Awkward Family Photos) and writing long blog posts or uploading photos seems out of the question.

But I couldn’t go without putting a little thing up. It seems weird that I will never, ever see this room again. It’s been my home for ten months. Not much of any interest happened here, but I’ll miss the nasty yellow curtains, the odd humidity of the toilet room, the lovely green forest of moss and little plants that has grown in the run-off from the air-con and over my discarded sock.

I plan to make the last song I play in my room “Black Out Fall Out” (the later compilation album edition which is a magnitude more epic). I remember when Polysics ended their live show with it. It was beautiful.

Technically, I leave Tokyo today (Narita is in Chiba-ken). This is sad. If there’s one thing I’ve confirmed from this year, it’s that this city…

this city is the best in the world.

Following the conclusion of my mid-term exam, I decided to hit Tokyo again. Of course, all too soon, going to Tokyo will be a lot more difficult than hopping on the Keio Line from Tobitakyu station, and words like “Semi-Special Express” and “Keio West Entrance” will be distant memories – like a dream, even.

I hit my usual places in Shinjuku – a few rounds of Beatmania IIDX and Drummania (the latter I’m getting better at, the former I fail hugely at), the game store where I never buy anything (I only go back because I saw Drummania for sale there once, but didn’t buy it, and now I regret it) – then thought I’d check out this exhibition at the Tokyo Museum of Modern Art in Chiyoda, something about architecture that I’d read an article about in Metropolis.

Regrettably, it turned out to be closed on Mondays, but no worries: instead I enjoyed a relaxing stroll around the perimeter of the Imperial Palace, which is closed to plebs like me.
After a quick burger and a bit of kanji study in a Ginza Lotteria (about the least classy meal you can have in ultra-classy Ginza) I came to Tokyo Station (probably my favourite station in all of Tokyo; an important hub like Shinjuku, but not as inhuman and impersonal) and wound up, like I so often do, back on the streets of New York City, a dope fiend, a slave, then prison; then the madhouse; then the grave Akihabara.

Ah, I’ll miss that fucking place (I imagine in decades to come, travel guides to Tokyo will open the section on Akihabara with a quote from me along those lines). The hobby stores. The bizarre proliferation of home security stalls. The game shops, of course; the myriad electronics meccas, the maid cafes, the KFC, the Coco Curryhouse; the corner which valiantly tries to ignore the rest of the place by having trendy cafes and a Muji and a pâtisserie but lets the side down by including a (ridiculously popular) Gundam Cafe; the streets and alleys which I shamefully know like the back of my hand.

In Yodobashi Camera I listened to their hi-fi equipment, because I’ve got it into my head that, as a music-loving nerd, my room next year will not be complete without some big-ass floorstanding speakers and the cheapest best-sounding amplifier I can buy (probably the Q Acoustics 1030is and an amp from the Cambridge Audio Topaz range at the moment, he says, pretending he knows something about hi-fi systems). I thought I spied a bargain on a Marantz amp, but it turns out I can get it cheaper in the UK and it’s a bit pants anyway, so that saves me posting a 7kg amplifier back home.

So. 東京、また逢う日まで (until we meet again, Tokyo)…

I feel – off, a little. After the doldrums of mid-March and the frantic-but-exciting exam cramming of the first week of May, I’m back to normal life, and…

It’s kind of dull. Which isn’t right. It’s very, very wrong. I’m in Tokyo. I should be doing ten exciting things before breakfast. And yet, when you’re a student repeating the last semester, stuck in a small room with not much money in the suburbs of Tokyo, it’s somehow …

empty.

And as my remaining days dwindle to insignificance, it becomes harder and harder to begin anything new. No point joining a club now; no point finding the cool bars, no point getting a job. I want to do so much with my time here. I wanted to do so much.

What am I?
What am I?
What am I in my own dear eyes?

It’s frustrating. It’s like I want to achieve so much, but I’m stuck with giant lobster claws for hands, and if I try to build a house or paint a self-portrait my giant lobster claws flounder uselessly and it’s hard enough just getting dressed and making breakfast in the morning when you have giant lobster claws, so I tend not to try to do too much. Which sucks.

Signed up for next year’s modules. Aside from the compulsory Japanese language modules, I’m taking an English Language module on the Language of Power, which I assume is about writing to persuade and influence, which sounds interesting enough. And, because I thought I’d better do some literature, a module on Civil War and Restoration literature. It wouldn’t be my first choice, but the only other options were Medieval lit (what I done last year) and Renaissance lit (which is basically Shakespeare, innit?).

None of the Japanese studies modules really appealed to me, so I decided to take a module on China since 1979 and also, in the first semester, a Short Dissertation. I’m not really sure what I should make it about, but I’ll have a good think.

After an impromptu meeting with Suzuki-sensei at 6pm today, it was established that due to my low mark of 63.9 (C) I will be repeating level 300 instead of moving up to 400 with everyone else. Also, I think I was advised to do all the auxiliary lessons (the speaking, listening, reading and writing classes) and the kanji class too. There goes my free time!

That’s not set in stone. I could still push for 400, I reckon. But, I dunno. It might be best to cut my losses and concentrate on the Leeds exam.

I’m doing joint honours English and Japanese at the moment. I am informed that there is a possibility of applying for straight BA English in May, which would entail basically dropping Japanese and reverting to my remaining two years of English in 2010/11 and 2011/12.

Do I want to do that? Not really. I do want to finish Japanese, but at the same time, in all honesty, I’m just not putting the work in.

Suzuki-sensei asked me today why I’m doing Japanese, and for the first time I gave the honest answer: I like living in Tokyo. I adore this city. I always tell people “Well I liked anime when I was younger,” or “I like Japanese culture”, but the simple truth is I like living here more than England. (In some respects. I do miss home.) No crime, great transport, exciting events, the bustle of a megapolis; it’s everything I want. I mean, you can walk the streets at 3am and never, ever feel threatened. You know how much more pleasant that is than in England? I don’t want to go all Daily Mail, but it’s little things like that.
And I don’t really need a degree to live here: obviously it would help with getting a job but right now, I know enough Japanese to survive here. I realised that when I went to get my bike fixed – just a minor errand, and my Japanese went off without a hitch, and it was sorted. I know enough to get anything done. I’m pretty much illiterate beyond kids’ manga and I can’t really hold an interesting conversation, but I can Get By.

So if I can get by, the question becomes what am I learning Japanese for? I’m not really sure. Obviously if I could be fluent I would. If I had a roadmap for fluency, I’d follow it. But that seems an awful long way away (and it is) and right now I’m sort of okay and I’m not really sure how I’m supposed to get better, but that doesn’t really bother me, y’know? (And yet it does…)

I can’t believe I’ve gone 21 years without staying up to watch a sunrise. Today I went out at about 6:50am and wandered out of the dorm and down the street, past the old man flexing his fingers for his morning exercises. The air was ice cold, and so refreshing.
There’s this little park near us which I knew about but never visited before. I’m glad I did. It’s so strange how we can go months living in a place and barely scratch the surface of what’s around us, isn’t it?
But the park was simply beautiful. I happened across it, catching the first rays of the rising sun as I heard “Hazey Jane I” on my iPod:

Do you feel like a remnant
Of something that’s past
Do you find things are moving
Just a little too fast?

and the sunlight blazed between pillars and between trees and it was really too beautiful, the pale green of the park before me, covered in icy dew. I wandered across the common, feet crunching on frozen grass, overwhelmed by it all. I told myself I wouldn’t bring my camera, but I wished I had. (I will tomorrow, maybe.) The sun shining over Chofu airfield, the distant towers, the ducks on the glimmering pond; the last glow of the moon above, in the west.

I got back and grabbed my camera and took a few photos from the top floor of the dorm.