Alley Cat

Tokyo is filled with the kinds of alleys that writers have long romanticized from East Asia. When I was in Hong Kong last spring on holiday, alleys were abundant but they weren't this clean and safe.

Along this alley in Shinjuku there were food vendors. No restaurant was packed, but each had five or ten hungry clients. Some cooked meats on skewers and others made soups with noodles.

More than a few European tourists were seen photographing this picturesque alley.

Shinjuku is a very busy business district where the Tokyo government offices are located. There are more skyscrapers in this neighborhood than others, but none can compare to New York's Midtown. (Wait twenty years and Tokyo will look more like Midtown, I am convinced.)

Tokyo appears to have far more restaurants than any one city could possibly support. Where the goal in New York is to have the most elite, packed restaurant possible, most restaurants are the opposite here. Many are tiny with twenty seats or less. Few have been full.

Do Not Walk

Even the ::Do Not Walk:: signs have a crafted to them. There used to be an old fashioned crosswalk sign like this one in San Francisco next to Civic Center.

San Francisco was the first place I lived as an adult where most people adhered to the ::Do Not Walk:: signs. New York City it seemed you could stop in the middle of the street, have a telephone conversation, and tie your shoes.

Granted, they would honk horns, but other pedestrians and most drivers could care less.

The crosswalk sign is serious business here. I have seen one lane alleys with a sign where there are no cars for several hundred yards in either direction and people will patiently wait for the sign to change.

The subways are strangely clean and orderly. I will post a photo and description of how the underground here works another day.

A Little Slice of NYC

The same day I went to Harajuku, I walked far enough into the tree-lined streets of Omote-sando. From what I was later told, this is a poshest neighborhood any foreigner has seen. I would compare it to Beverly Hills in California. Mercedes G-wagons and Jaguars were abundant -- this is Tokyo!

Regardless, this sign outside the new Kangol store took me back to New York City, if only for a moment. The store is bizarre and would never exist in the United States in its shape. It is built in a staircase.

As you walk into the doorway to enter the building there is a staircase downward. Along the walls are hats. Fifteen steps to the bottom there is a women at a cash register to say hello. There are probably less than one hundred hats in the entire store.

This brings me to the greeting you receive in ninety percent of the stores in Tokyo. As you enter the store, the staff will yell out in a sing-song manner. I don't know what it means. And when you leave, the give another call.

The entire staff does this for each person entering and leaving. It is a strange chorus compared to the complete and stifling silence in high-end boutiques in New York City.

Even the boutiques in Tokyo's main shopping district, Ginza, has staff members whisper the phrase as you arrive. Shopping is religion here.

The Japanese Modified Mullet

If there's one thing the Japanese don't fool around about: it's the mullet. I've termed the haircut that beautiful young women in Ebisu, Shibuya, and Harajuku sport the "Japanese Modified Mullet". If they say this is a nation and culture that prides itself on conformity, then the mullet is one more nail in the coffin.

You get used to it.

I went exploring in a neighborhood called Harajuku. It is supposed to the wildest in terms of fashion -- and it is from what I have seen. Everything you had read and seen about Japanese fashion -- mohawks, mini-skirts, and 1970s punks -- is in this neighborhood. It is a mix of the East Village in New York City and Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco.

This photograph was hung outside a clothing store. Nice hair-do. I just might switch.

When you exit the JR (Japanese Railways) stop in Harajuku, you are squeezed down a long narrow hallway to exit the station. This is very different than most other stops. The spacing is unusually tight. As you reach the outdoors and cross the street you are faced with a tiny alley crammed with thousands (literally) of kids aged 12-16 dressed as 1960-1970's rocker punks. Many of them have crazy hair and spiked leather jackets. The stores hawk these kinds of clothes and random street (junk) food.

It rained the day I visited so the photographs are not very good. When I return during better weather, I will post another photo.

Tokyo Tower

My hotel, The Somerset, is located in Higashi-Azabu (that's Azabu East) on a main road named Sakurada Dori. (Dori is the word for street when used in combination with a street name.)

While the street is six lanes across, unlike New York City, there is no constant roar of garbage trucks at 3AM. I have been told Tokyo is a busy, crowded place, but the crowding here has a different feel. New York is an assault on your senses as a human being; Tokyo is pleasant by comparison.

Where are the police sirens, jackhammers, rotting garbage, and potholes in the streets? I cannot yet find them. I stand on a crowded metro platform waiting for the next train on a Friday night and the station is nearly silent except for (clear) announcements over the loudspeaker.

Crowded streets are also incredibly quiet by standards from the United States. While taxi drivers here drive very fast, their horn in not their first choice for communication with pedistrians and other drivers. This is a relief from my old studio in the West Village.

To the left is a photograph of the Tokyo Tower. It is on the plot of land behind my hotel. Unfortunately, my view faces the other way. Regardless, at the street level, it is stunning. It is the size of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It is painted bright orange and well lit for viewing at night. As explained, most Tokyo radio and television stations broadcast from this tower.

There is an elevator and accompanying stairs to climb to two different levels. I have yet to make the trek, but I will post a good photo or two when I do.

Intro

Call this an introduction. This my space to share photographs and stories from Tokyo. I moved here from New York City two weeks ago.

Tokyo has been good to me so far. I didn't sleep last night -- stumbled out of a club at 5:30AM after the sun rose.

The photo to the left is a (buddhist/shinto?) temple five minutes from my "service apartment" (think hotel with kitchen amenities).