I arrived in Tokyo after 15 hours on two flights, managing to read almost an entire book and watch two movies en route to Japan. At the Narita airport, I had several more hours to wait until my son could meet me after work. I found an internet site and emailed my friend Haruko that I had arrived and would call her later to make plans for meeting the next day.
Once Jesse arrived, we rode back to Tokyo, changing trains several times on the 90-minute ride to the Nishiarai station in the Adachi area of Tokyo. We made a brief stop at the Kitasenju station and walked outside for a view. Jesse is standing in the middle of the photo.
This was my initiation into life in Tokyo, a life ruled by the train and subway system so vital to to this megalopolis of 33 million people, the largest city in the world. I was thankful to have my son as a guide through the maze of trains and train stations, as I'm certain I would have been lost on my own. Few signs were translated into English and few people seemed willing or able to communicate in English. Instead, everyone seemed to be in a hurry, focused on getting home, noone talking in the trains, just staring ahead or closing their eyes as if to create a bubble of separateness from others.
For an inside look at what it's like in the Tokyo subways during rush hour, watch these videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rndmtvtH7U0&feature=related
A poster on the train immediately caught my eye, as it was written in Italian and advertised an exhibiit of Florentine art at the Museum of Modern Art in Ueno Park, where Haruko and I would be meeting. The exhibit focused on the goddess Venus "from antiquity to the Renaissance." Titian's "Venere di Urbino," which I'd seen at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, was featured on the poster, and her naked pose proved to be a constant presence throughout my stay in Japan, smiling at me from billboards and posters lining the trains and train stations. Oddly enough, this bit of Italian helped me feel at home!
A poster on the train immediately caught my eye, as it was written in Italian and advertised an exhibiit of Florentine art at the Museum of Modern Art in Ueno Park, where Haruko and I would be meeting. The exhibit focused on the goddess Venus "from antiquity to the Renaissance." Titian's "Venere di Urbino," which I'd seen at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, was featured on the poster, and her naked pose proved to be a constant presence throughout my stay in Japan, smiling at me from billboards and posters lining the trains and train stations. Oddly enough, this bit of Italian helped me feel at home!
Once we reached Jesse's station, the hectic pace slowed down and we walked a mile or so to his flat on a quiet street, in a quiet neighborhood. He had rented a cell phone for me to use during my stay, and I called Haruko to arrange a meeting place for our visit, trying to minimize the time I would be alone on the train. In the end, I let Jesse and Haruko figure it out. Then Jesse fired up his Japanese bath for me to soak in , another item that would be a constant during my stay, which I'll explain in more detail later in this blog. I slept well the first night, so well that I wasn't aware of a rather large earthquake that happened about 3 a.m. I heard about it the next day from Jesse and Haruko. Perhaps this was Japan's way of welcoming me, but I was too tired to notice!
Overall, my first impressions of Tokyo were overwhelming, yet this was buffered by the presence of Jesse and Haruko as my guides. Still, the constant presence of crowds of people, the hectic pace, the noise, and the maze of trains and subways, made we wonder what I had gotten myself into. I could only hope that the best was yet to come. And indeed, it was.......
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