Dear Diary, My Ass Is Being Heated and Sprayed With Water: Japan Diary #1

So here I am. In Japan. Holy crap.

I'm staying at my friends place in a small district outside of central Tokyo called Musashino-shi. Its small enough that as long as you follow the main streets and crowds you can not get lost, but big enough to make you feel insignificant. Nothing however, can compare to what I witnessed last night arriving from Narita Airport. I arrived on time at approximately 4:45pm Tokyo time, which would be 3:45am Canadian time. I had not slept yet and was weak. The flight was long, but not too bad. Air Canada provided everyone with personal entertainment centres in the headrests of the seat in front of you. Large selection of movies and television shows including episodes of Dexter, 30 Rock and movies like 500 Days of Summer, A Single Man, Young Victoria, Crazy Heat and Avatar to just name a few. I was overly impressed and spent the entire flight writing and watching movie after movie. I tried to sleep, but it was no use. So when I arrived in Narita and boarded the Narita express it was hardly the time to nod off before arriving in Tokyo. I realize that my last post I said my first stop was a district of Tokyo called Shinjuku. Yet, a last minute change with my friend we opted to meet up in a place called Shibuya. Some of you would know this area of Tokyo from the movie Lost in Translation when Scarlett Johannsson's character crosses that crazy intersection with that big dinosaur on the oversized billboard screen. Well that intersection was one of my first Japanese experiences. Can someone say sensory overload? It was by far the most overwhelming experience I have ever had in my life. Nothing, but maybe visiting Time Square could have prepare me for it. Not only are there about 200,000 people walking, talking on their cellphones, carrying umbrellas and bags, there are also, buses, cars, cabs and advertisements EVERYWHERE. Things are beeping, moving, playing music and glowing. Its a non-stop light show complete with Japanese sounds. In fact there is some advertisement here in Japan now with Darth Vader as the face of the product. Can any of you say you've looked up to a massive billboard screen and seen Darth Vader staring down at you pointing with his menacing finger saying something with his legendary voice completely in Japanese? I don't know what Japanese James Earl Jones was saying, but it was affective.

The Shibuya train stop was complete anarchy. More people than I have ever seen in one place. They would come in waves and would not stop. Ducking and weaving through them with both of my backpacks proved to be difficult. It didn't help I also was going on no sleep for almost 24hours. Apparently, our first meet up point in Shinjuku is even worse! Its the most heavily populated and used train station in the world. Once I reached outside of the station through the Hichiko exit the people doubled, but in a larger space so it just seemed really busy. It was interesting sitting there and people watching while I waited for my friend Dan to meet up with me. Thousands of people must have passed me over those couple hours and I can't remember any of their faces. Who could? And no, they do not all look the same. They're mostly Japanese, but there are so many fashions, hair styles and demeanors that it was hard to focus on just one person at a time. Shibuya crossing is a strange and wonderful place. (Going back to re-live the amazing nightmare tomorrow)

Eventually Dan came to my rescue. I had not seen him since probably some 4-5 years ago, but being the great character he is, it didn't feel that way. We took the train over to his place, unloaded my things and I met his lovely girlfriend Hanna. She had put a bed down for me and everything, which was most welcoming and kind. We were there a span of 10 minutes before Dan took me to a place to eat and have a few drinks. It was a relatively cheap, hip little place. Very clean and Japanese-ish. It was quite busy with a lot of young people. Dan did all the ordering in Japanese and it was fascinating. He ordered a beer for himself and a rice sake for me. The waiter came over and gave me a large shot glass sitting in a small square dish. Both were chilled. He then brought over a large bottle of chilled sake and poured enough that it ran down into the other dish. Very elegant and delicious. Cold sake is da bomb yo! Dinner arrived and it was super good. Got some iced cabbage leafs, pickled eggplant with ginger, fried chicken, diced tuna wrapped in seaweed and traditional salmon on top of rice. We also had a "ceaso salado," a Japanese take on a cesar salad. It was very good and what made it a little different was a cracked half boiled egg on top. What a weird an wacky place. It was a great evening and by the time I was done I was half in the bag and getting the shakes from the lack of sleep. We arrived back to his place and Dan went into the bathroom. He came out handing me a towel and suggested I take a soak in a traditional Japanese household tub. Its small in length, but much higher so you sit up to your neck in water instead of the waist. Despite my size, I fit. He went off to bed and I sat in this tub just relaxing. Mind you this was about 3AM but well worth it. Got out and went to bed.

Woke up this morning. Dan and I had some breakfast and then he took off. I just got back in from touring around the area a little. Could not get out too far thanks to a constant drizzle of rain coming down and jet lag. Did manage to head through town a bit and down into a beautiful park in the lower section of the city. It had amazing wooden paths and bridges. In the middle of it was a private zoo for paying guests and a temple. I really enjoyed walking through there.

I'm feeling the effects of the long day yesterday today and am now sitting in Dan's apartment trying to do some catch up on my rest. Our friend Justin comes into town tonight. He and I will be partaking in a week long excursion into traditional Japan rich in ancient culture and landscapes next week and then going back to his place in the Northeast part of Japan, Iwaki for a few days to hangout. With his arrival tonight, it may mean more sake and even less sleep. So I'm going to nap while I have the chance.Not sure when I will be able to speak to you all again with an update so I made this one a pretty healthy one. Please forgive me on any spelling or grammatical errors you came across. I am writing on my friend Dan's Japanese mac book. No pictures or video postings today, but I am taking them! More updates to come! This is quite the place...


P.S. some truck keeps driving by and blaring something in Japanese over their PA speakers. Think it may be for an election or something. Or they are selling eye glasses. Its weird. People stand at their storefronts yelling, promoting whatever their sales are or something. Even at optical stores.