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