Eastern Capital
After all the stress of China, and as worn out as we were, Tokyo was a real joy--a literal breath of fresh air.
Everything that is intimidating and alien about Japan really just felt like a piece of cake after so much other Asian travel. It was very easy to feel at home there between the comforting first-world facilities and the structured politeness of everyone there.
That politeness is really fascinating; it's a scripted drama, and as long as you play your role (oafish barbarian, but not too rude) within the correct boundaries, everybody is comfortable and happy. But, I'd been craving mannered classiness for so long, that I rather loved it.
From all I'd heard about Tokyo, I wasn't sure I was going to be that wild about it; it's not the historic face of Japan that I'm more interested in touring to be sure. But in the end I was pretty charmed by the way it is a confederation of many neighborhoods rather than a concentric downtown focused city.
I also was very insistent that I got my museum fix Tokyo National Museum, after the fine-arts museum drought in China. And it turned out they actually have quite an impressive Chinese art collection--I kept wondering just how they managed to collect some of those pieces...
Even with only three days in town, we wanted to get out into the countryside. So we took a day trip to Nikko, a shrine complex 2 hours out of Tokyo where the first Tokugawa Shogun was buried. Unfortunately, when we got there it started pouring; I can't really complain too much since it was only our second truly rainy day in five weeks. But it did really force our hand; we had no choice but to have a two hour kaiseki lunch at a local traditional restaurant. That lunch, and in fact the whole day at NIkko was a wonderful experience. Even with the rain, Nikko was lovely with the lavish temples towering sugi trees (Japan's answer to redwoods). Even if Tokyo had been miserable, the trip through Japan would've been worth it for that one day.
But still, I'm not wishing that I'd done more of the trip in Japan rather than China. After this little teaser visit to Japan, I'm much more excited to go back on another trip to the Kyoto/Nara/Osaka area. But for this trip, I wanted to get much further off the beaten path and push my limits. Plus, in some sense I wanted to see China because it is really the cultural source with a deeper history (where it hasn't been destroyed), its changing so fast right now, and the scenery is much grander--at least where I went. Plus, China has all that at low, low prices.
Everything that is intimidating and alien about Japan really just felt like a piece of cake after so much other Asian travel. It was very easy to feel at home there between the comforting first-world facilities and the structured politeness of everyone there.
That politeness is really fascinating; it's a scripted drama, and as long as you play your role (oafish barbarian, but not too rude) within the correct boundaries, everybody is comfortable and happy. But, I'd been craving mannered classiness for so long, that I rather loved it.
From all I'd heard about Tokyo, I wasn't sure I was going to be that wild about it; it's not the historic face of Japan that I'm more interested in touring to be sure. But in the end I was pretty charmed by the way it is a confederation of many neighborhoods rather than a concentric downtown focused city.
I also was very insistent that I got my museum fix Tokyo National Museum, after the fine-arts museum drought in China. And it turned out they actually have quite an impressive Chinese art collection--I kept wondering just how they managed to collect some of those pieces...
Even with only three days in town, we wanted to get out into the countryside. So we took a day trip to Nikko, a shrine complex 2 hours out of Tokyo where the first Tokugawa Shogun was buried. Unfortunately, when we got there it started pouring; I can't really complain too much since it was only our second truly rainy day in five weeks. But it did really force our hand; we had no choice but to have a two hour kaiseki lunch at a local traditional restaurant. That lunch, and in fact the whole day at NIkko was a wonderful experience. Even with the rain, Nikko was lovely with the lavish temples towering sugi trees (Japan's answer to redwoods). Even if Tokyo had been miserable, the trip through Japan would've been worth it for that one day.
But still, I'm not wishing that I'd done more of the trip in Japan rather than China. After this little teaser visit to Japan, I'm much more excited to go back on another trip to the Kyoto/Nara/Osaka area. But for this trip, I wanted to get much further off the beaten path and push my limits. Plus, in some sense I wanted to see China because it is really the cultural source with a deeper history (where it hasn't been destroyed), its changing so fast right now, and the scenery is much grander--at least where I went. Plus, China has all that at low, low prices.
2 Comments:
I think perhaps you could have been a writer in a former life. I really enjoyed reading your blog . . . The story teller in you is alive and well.
Chris
Spence-fu and Tara-chan... Are you home?! I just got back from a week in Kyoto and Tokyo (and Nara, Nikko & Kamakura) this afternoon, so we just missed each other - literally! The blog is great, but not the same as getting my regular Killeburns fix. Call me when you come up for air. I want to see the pictures!
-Megan
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