what i will remember about tokyo is how insecure it made me at first - after all, how intelligent can you look as a dithering idiot reduced to pointing towards pictures to order food and then bowing to signify a thank you?
as the days went by, tokyo separated itself from taiwan and hongkong, where i had unconsciously classified it with. how the subway lines seem to be the only way of getting around, how small snack-shops sprout up at every unimaginable corner, how the bright lights of the city never fade and how the flashing billboards reflect a certain restlessness that cannot be conveyed in words.
tokyo is a paradox. you have the cherubic schoolgirls who may one day be selling their used undies to salarymen, you have the innocent looking schoolboys who look like little men, dressed in their black jackets and slacks, who will grow up on a diet of porn and erotic manga. then the demure looking office-ladies who cross their legs when they sit and may moonlight by night. and the salarymen togged in well-cut suits who may pay for someone to piss on their faces. you have the land of the rising sun and the day that ends at five in december, looking set to continue this way till march. you have traditional shinto shrines like the meiji shrine and tall skyscrapers in shidome. you have the city that never sleeps, spied from a train on a private railway - men still in the offices at half past nine, people standing at the copier machines, and you have the drunkards along shinjuku and in the love hotels.
that said, when i initally thought there was nothing much to enjoy, the rising yen which renders the steals from japan not quite steals anymore, i found great enjoyment in navigating the railway lines - no biggie, really, the search for places on the various maps and as always, the journey is as fulfilling as what comes after. now, if only that could apply to life.
so today, i woke at 6, visited the Tsukiji Fish Market, had the freshest sushi ever from a stall that drew crowds, then headed down to the Meiji Jingu Shrine, walked a mile on a dirt-paved road, thanked god that i wore my trainers instead of my books, tourist-watched people being led around like sheep, wrote out a wish at the shrine, visited the imperial palace, the tokyo metropolitan government building and watched tokyo come alive in a fairytale land of billboards and bright lights in the night, and then went to Oedo Onsen where i sat in hot springs and watched naked girls sashay their way past me.
and so, just as well that my phone is a 2G type that cannot be used in japan. i want to feel free and uncontactable. though how ironical it is that i am in touch with the world through the world wide web.
i am happiest when there is no one to follow, literally or figuratively. that life could meander its way past me and see me just indulging in moments like these.
