Osaka on a fast train.

 One last thing about the big city of Tokyo. There must be some sort of unwritten rule for keeping cars in like-new condition here, because every vehicle in this city looks as if it came right off the showroom floor. They’re so clean they might even be hygienic. Commercial or personal, it didn’t seem to matter. I observed a street sweeper whose whole working existence is to pick up and clear away dust, dirt and debris. It’s supposed to look like Snoopy’s buddy Pig-Pen but is was clean as a whistle. How is that even possible?

Onto Osaka on a Bullet Train or Shinkansen as the Japanese have coined it. Japan was the first country in the world to build dedicated rail lines for high speed travel. The Shinkansen zips along this high speed railway line a a shopping 176 mph. As a comparison, the train from Seattle to Vancouver, BC, covers 120 miles in 3 hours and 58 miles at the snail’s speed of 30 mph. If you booked a reservation on a Shinkansen out of Seattle, (if they had one), where could you go in that amount of time?  San Francisco would be an easy reach with enough time left over to grab some chocolates in Ghirardelli Square down at the waterfront. The ride was an enjoyable experience as we flew by the towns and countryside, albeit a dizzying one. 

Our first full day in a new city brought to light a few differences between the people of Tokyo and those in Osaka. The residents of Tokyo are generally stoic and reserved and made eye contact only by accident then quickly looked away. Smiling seem to be forbidden and probably only happens in public if a player wins a bundle on a game of Pachinko. And they’re a quiet bunch. With a gazillion folks jockeying for space on a train or subway in a big enclosed hallway, it’s oddly quiet. Cram 120 or more of those same  folks into a subway car and the decibel level goes from oddly quiet to soundproof-room quiet. Weird but truc. A pin drop would sound like a firecracker here. When riding the Osaka transit, it’s a much lighter atmosphere.

Pachinko Hall.

Osaka folks, on the other hand, seem more relaxed.  They smile easier, are more chatty, and just don’t seem to have an “all business, all the time” kind of demeanor. They actually laugh here, out loud. I observed it myself. They wear different colored clothing, like they’re not afraid of getting a ticket for wearring something other than black like they seem to do in Tokyo. There were many more families out and about in Osaka as compared to Tokyo. And that’s where you see the smiles and hear the laughter most often.   

Everybody rides a bike here in Osaka, young and old, (and I mean old). It’s a means of transportation and exercise.  Moon and I chuckled when we saw a women riding an old rusty bike, who had to be in her 90s. And it wasn’t unusual to see a rider put groceries in the basket attached to the handlebars, throw the kid in the back bucket seat then hop on and peddle away. All this was done on a busy crowded sidewalk. It’s easy to wander aimlessly here because everything is new, there’s people everywhere, and the fragrance from the food stalls is alluring. But, it’s necessary to keep one eye on the sidewalk to avoid a nasty bike-tire-in-the-stomach scenario. I cant’t remember seeing a bike in downtown Tokyo.  

We toured the Osaka Castle in all its splendor. It’s an historical building 400 years old and still standing, although it’s been rebuilt several times. It’s one of the few things that wasn’t bombed during World Wars Two. 

We took a boat trip around the moat, with its high walls. It was obvious that the inhabitants of the castle wanted to keep any outsiders…out. 

At the other end of the spectrum from an ancient castle is the New Abeno Harukus building in Osaka. It was the tallest building in Japan at a height of 300 meters. If you are metrically challenged, that’s almost 1000 feet up. The tallest, anyway, until 3 days ago when the new Mori Building opened in Tokyo, which scrapes the sky at 330 meters, roughly 100 feet taller than the old champ in Osaka. Regardless, the view in Abeno Harukus was out of this world.  One floor down from the top was an outdoor mini-park where Moon and I sat down for a rest and to take in the view of Osaka. 

Wide angle shot of downtown Osaka taken with my i-phone.

Abeno Harukus Building.

While we were siting taking in the view, I took a picture of the sky’s reflection in the window. 

Many hotels in Japan have a thing they do that’s sort of, charming? Instead of providing each room with an entire basket of incidentals, those items are placed in a case near the first floor elevators. They’re free. A guest only takes what they need. So we’ll call it the Honor Case of Incidentals. The case includes mouthwash, combs, mesh wash clothes, shampoo and conditioner, coffee, toothbrushes and toothpaste, face cleanser, towelettes, body cream, toothpicks (what?), razors, and probably a couple things I missed. I know what you’re thinking, “this situation is ripe for abuse”. We spied such a situation when a woman loaded a bundle of items into her bag. She seemed to have a special affinity with the mesh wash clothes. Now, watching someone take more than they need because it’s free, I don’t know, it’s just wrong. And irritating to boot. That’s all I gotta say about that.  

The coolest thing across Japan that is consistent, whether in Osaka or Tokyo or anywhere else in this country is the bowing.  Everybody bows here.  It’s a sign of recognition and respect. It’s displayed in their behavior and attitude toward others and in the environment of their lives. A bow can mean many things, such as “hello”, “excuse me”, “thank you” and “good bye”, but those are only a few of many other possibilities. It’s refreshing, really. 

By the way, when we return back home and any of you need one of those nifty mesh wash clothes or one of those handy little plastic fold-up combs, let me know because I have a bunch of ‘em. Test me.   

Tokyo Transit

Our plane landed in Tokyo Narita Airport, which is 1 1/2 hours away from Tokyo, so that’s kind of a misnomer. We took the train, which is pretty much the easiest and most convenient way to get to Tokyo proper and our hotel.  Easy is relative, however, after an 11 hour flight my brain was functioning at a level between a highly tuned biological machine and a bowl of potato salad. Good thing Moon was there to save us both. 

We checked into Park Hotel Tokyo which is on the 25 to 34 floors of executive office building, There seems to be quite a few hotels that take up space in offices building here. The Park’s claim to fame? They present the works of Japanese based artists on every wall, table and open space. They even hand over some of the rooms to artist so they can create art, whether it’s a painting or sculpture or whatever the process is for them. It’s like staying in a museum except the price of admission is a bit more than your average entrance price to MOMA. It was a delight, every day. 

Tokyo ranked 3rd best transit metropolis in the world with its abundance of trains, subways and buses. Getting to the correct train or subway platform can be a bit daunting. A passenger must navigate a labyrinth of tunnels, hallways, platforms, gates, stairs, escalators, and elevators. All this is hodgepodged together and intertwined on seven different levels, 4 floors below ground and 3 floors above. It’s complicated and always busy. We’ll have it down pat just about the time we’re ready to leave Tokyo.

Everybody dresses in black here so colorful attire is a no go. Occasionally a dark gray or dark green is seen but they would be an outlier from the norm. I left my aloha shirts in the closet. When looking out over the sea of humanity in the train or subway station it looks much like everyone just came back from a funeral or they’re headed to one. And in those stations the majority of them are looking, head down, at their iPhones. According to the Tokyo travel guide 5.98 million people use the transit system every day. With so many folks looking at their phones while going this way and that, it seems impossible there wouldn’t be passenger pileups or people crashiing into each other, somewhere…but no. While they’re perusing the internet or texting maybe a little sonar/radar avoidance app pops up an alert telling them to alter their course. Or maybe they’re all just intuitive, like a murmuration of starlings, each changing speed and direction in awareness of the transit community around them. Who knows?

We headed to Shibuya crossing which is supposed to be the busiest foot traffic crossing in the world. An area of shopping malls, restaurants and people watching and a big screen TV, sort of like a Times Square like atmosphere. It’s become known as the Shibuya Scramble because 24 hours per day an average of 2000 pedestrians ramble across the intersection every 2 minutes from every direction.  That’s a couple million crossings per day. That’s a lot of steps. 

A shout out to all the Japanese who helped us navigate the transit system. They made it their life’s work ensuring we got to the correct train or subway, by literally, walking us to the gate or plateform. One fellow gave us a “follow me sign” after we showed him our Google Maps. Off he went as we tried to keep up. Yesterday morning, this particular guy walked 100 yards out of his way, up some stairs to an elevator and out onto a platform, then pointed to the gate we were supposed to take. All this with a smile and a bow, like we did him a favor. This happened with other people, not just this one guy. Since it happened that often I did a little research to find out if it was common. This type of behavior is identified as Omoiyari. It is one of the core values in Japanese culture where everyone tries to make life a little easier  for others. It’s something our world could use a little more of at this point in time, that’s for sure. We were grateful for the help. 

Up and out the door at 5:00 a.m to catch the fish market auction in a massively huge building near the waterfront. Everything from the smallest shrimp to 300 pound tuna are auctioned daily. We barely got in to see the last tuna auction and should have left an hour earlier. 

Toyosu market is the center of the universe in terms of Bluefin Tuna. It’s prized here in Japan more than anywhere else in the world and they’re willing to pay dearly for it. That would be $2.

25 million dollars for a 612 pound Bluefin tuna. The tuna caught off the coast of Japan have just the right about of fat content that’s supposed to be the best tasting in the world. 

Of course, we had to have some. So at 7 o’clock in the morning we were seating at a sushi counter enjoying some of the best tasting tuna in the world. Once we had the opportunity of tasting the fish here, all others will probably pale in comparison. It was delicious.  Fun Fact: we chatted with the sushi chef who told us the knife he used to prepare our meals was purchased 40 years ago and he’s used it ever since. 

My mouth is watering even now, just thinking about this experience. 
 

I’m a cloud watching kind of guy. This picture was taken of clouds in the late afternoon hanging over the Tokyo skyline. The coloring and shading of the clouds was gorgeous. It’s going on my computer’s startup screen when I return home. 

All for now. Happy Thanksgiving to you all. 

Ed and Moon

Sent from my iPad

Leaving home

Well, we’re shedding all the responsibilities of Seattle home life after all these past month’s preparation for our trip. It’s a pretty exhilarating experience. 

We headed to our gate at SeaTac to find our trip starting with a bang. Moon and I were upgraded to first class on Alaska. So my thoughts of a quick meal or snack, a cocktail for Moon, water in those charming little eco-friendly milk cartons and a warm “thank you for flying Alaska Airlines” flew through my head. However, on a 24 minute flight from Seattle to Vancouver, a first class passenger gets a roomier seat and a smile. I could sit on a metal stool for 24 minutes and be perfectly happy, but I’m not complaining. Anyway, after takeoff we ascended to altitude for the first 15 minutes of the flight when the PA comes alive with, “our bathrooms are now locked” (Yikes!), “please bring your seat backs to their...”, you know the drill. I think the light rail from SaeTac to SoDo takes longer. But, we are finally on our way and thrilled about it all. 

After disembarking the plane and entering Vancouver International Airport it was a breeze moving through customs with our Nexus cards. We booked a room in Fairmont Hotel which is connected to the airport. It as only about a 100 yards from where we would check our luggage the next morning. The room for our one night stay overlooked the runway. There is something calming about watching the planes, large and small, come and go. It was a nice touch to our first day of traveling. 

We were hungry, so being an adventuresome lot we visited a kiosk outside of baggage claim named Japandogs. The woman manning the kiosk was hopping up and down trying to stay warm in the 40 degree weather. She didn’t seem to find the humor in my asking if she was chilly.  Her attire would have been right at home in Homer Alaska in the dead of winter. Anyway, she handed us one pork dog with onions and seaweed and an unknown special sauce and one pork dog with chopped daikon radish, these purple pickle things and some kind of mayo/wasabi concoction. When in Rome, eh’? They weren’t bad.  

Off to Japan tomorrow.  Stay tuned.  Ed out.