Tokyo sits on the flat Kanto plain in Western Japan. Bounded by mountains and Tokyo bay, it merges with surrounding cities such as Yokohama to form a conurbation of staggering scale. This is not a pretty city, but a living grey blanket, throbbing with human life, trying to keep sanity intact, trying to find a reason to continue, always moving on.
There is scant space here, but still room for everyone: room to live in a fantasy world; room for corporate success; room for loneliness and despair; room to fall in love with the girl in the convenience store. In a room shared with millions, privacy is a simple matter of shutting your eyes on the ten-thirty train home.
Here I plan to present a series of snapshots of life in Tokyo. Some famous, some interesting, some mundane, but I hope they convey some of the facets of this great city. As time goes by, I will add more images or divide the page into further sections so keep returning to take a peek. Feel free to e-mail me with any questions. I'll do my best to answer!
I live in suburban west Tokyo at a place called Higashi Fushimi. It is typical Tokyo and has a small pleasant lake and a Shinto shrine dedicated to 'Inari', a fox. It is also the location of Waseda University sports grounds, so there are a fair number of eternally tanned students. It takes around 25 minutes to reach Shinjuku, probably the busiest part of Tokyo being both a shopping district and administration area. Local streets in Japanese cities are usually quiet as there is little traffic, most people using bicycles or walking. My apartment is a 2DK, meaning a dining room-cum-kitchen, and two other rooms. One of those has straw 'tatami' mats, the other has wooden flooring. Neat and compact.
The small lake in my local park during mid-December.
Tokyo is grey, but many shades of grey and this contrasts perfectly with the beautiful parks and gardens, the colourful fashions, and the neon-lit nights. Each month and changing season brings with it new flowers. As I write, the city is full of hydrangeas in graduations from white to blue to purple to pink. Rainy season is upon us and the streets shine in cooling rain, reflecting the shop signs and giant public video-screens. The city is alive until late, thronged with shoppers and diners, salarymen and office ladies. Compact hedonism before the last train home, or slipping into an all-night karaoke box until the first train. A never-ending cycle of work and pleasure against the clock.
View of Shinjuku restaurants and bars lit up by giant neon signs.
Tokyo is full of people, really full of people. An amazing mixture of individuality and conformity, free and at the same time contained. Young people push the boundaries of fashion to extremes rare in the west before settling in to company-uniformed life, marriage around thirty, their own apartment, a good high-school for the kids, hot-spring trips and a long retirement. But society is now in a state of flux, old routes harder to follow, or less attractive these days. A blurring of the edges, people falling off the map in larger numbers. The silk ties unfastened and uncertainty set loose.
Tokyo has some wonderful green spaces: from large open public parks to small immaculately maintained gardens, there is space for everyone, and each season brings marked changes and new pleasures. One visit to a garden can never reveal its full character, one must return in all four seasons to appreciate the genius in the design. As winter snow gives way to cherry blossom, which in turn herald late spring rhododendron then rainy season hydrangea. The baking humid summer, the reds, oranges and yellows of the changing leaves in autumn, the sudden descent into winter when the evergreens show themselves.
This garden is several hundred years old and is a delightful place to
stroll.
Take a look at these two galleries of photographs. The first is a selection of images showing the beautiful colours of the changing leaves during autumn. The second is a collection of views of the large west Tokyo park called Showa Kinen Koen. When I get the time, I plan to write about the park as it is full of interesting sights. But for now, there are just a set of photos.
Shinjuku gyoen and Meiji Jingu
September 'matsuri'
in Kichjoji, west Tokyo.
On Sunday, August 24th, the weather was terrible but I went to the Koenji Awaodori. This is Japan's second largest traditional dance festival and is held in the west Tokyo town of Koenji. Click on the link to go to the English Language site and read more about the 12000 dancers who parade the streets. I took some photos myself and had a beer and a sausage among the crowds. I've written a short magazine article about it so go take a look. The image below hopefully wets your appetite. Click it!.
Tokyo has some great museums and galleries. As time goes by, I'll report on my visits to them. If you have a request, please mail me!
The excellent Edo-Tokyo museum in Ryogoku is worth a visit to get a feel for life in Edo and Tokyo over the last 500 years. Click on the image below to read a description of the museum and see some of the exhibits. There's also some information about the history of the city, and links to Wikipedia.
